Vale of Lies
by Celeron96
Summary: Two down on their luck detectives are hired by two well meaning but incompetent police officers. They want them to help track down the "Rose Petal thieves" and stop their crimes across Vale. Noir style AU
1. Chapter 1

**So, this whole thing was inspired by the ramblings of the guys over at the RWBY subreddit discord chat. Thanks for giving me the idea guys!**

 **Also, just as a note to avoid confusion, this is set in a 40s style AU!**

 **Now have fun!**

* * *

The day started of slow and all signs pointed to it staying like that.

Thick smoke hung in the air of the small office, coming from the ashtray on his partner's desk. Surprisingly, it has been a few weeks already since she used the last one to knock an unsatisfied customer out before throwing him through the door and onto the streets. Usually those things didn't survive two days...

The dusty old office that being a private investigator apparently brought with it had probably seen better days as well, but it had everything any serious detective needed. A coffee maker that's always empty when needed, a secret stash of whiskey in one of the file drawers and, most importantly, an old leather couch.

Even though the leather was ripped in a few places and the springs sometimes pricked him, Lie Ren couldn't help but try to claim it as his dominion as much as possible. Probably unsurprising to most, being a detective doesn't bring much sleep with it as is. But having an overactive partner didn't help at all.

Looking over to the couch, he considered to walk over and lay down, but he knew that once close to the couch, either a customer arrived, a call came in or his partner had an idea for something.

"Hey Ren, you know where I put my lighter" his partner asked, her voice sounding distressed.

"It's right in front of you Nora..." Ren replied calm, not even looking up from the old newspaper he was looking through.

Nora Valkyrie, his partner in every way of live, was without a doubt the muscle of the two. Just the sight of her bright red hair was enough for some bars to close up for the night and throw paying customers out, as they were not particularly interested in having to replace their whole furniture. Again.

"Oh" she said with a chuckle as she grabbed the small lighter, a hammer engraved in it, to light a cigarette "Right..."

After blowing out the first plume of blue smoke, she let out an relieved sigh and leaned back into her chair "I missed that..."

Raising an eyebrow, Ren looked at her for a moment "You just had one?"

"Yeah, but still!" Nora said, a grin on her face all the same.

Letting out a sigh and turning back to the newspaper, Ren noticed once again the inviting couch just a few feet away.

Even though reading the news should be part of a detectives job, Ren decided that reading a week old paper without even having a case that required it was good enough an excuse to stop than any. Therefore he now slowly stood up to walk over to the couch and just have some rest.

"Hey" Nora's voice pierced through the quiet and caused Ren to stop right in front of the object of his desire "How about we go out tonight? Have some fun?"

"Sounds good..." It didn't. All he wanted was to get some sleep.

With one final step, he reached the couch and immediately let himself fall on it, a spring pricking him in the back in the process. Even though describing the couch as comfortable would be a blatant lie, it felt like a cloud to Ren.

The moment he closed his eyes, he heard an all too familiar sound.

With a slight creak, the door to their office opened and two people stepped in.

 _"Damn..."_

* * *

"So, what do two cops from the Vale Police Department need from some lowly PIs?" Nora asked as soon as the two potential clients were seated.

"Nora..." Ren only said to shut her up for the moment, in order not to scare them away, while he walked behind his desk and sat down as well.

Looking them up and down, he wasn't sure what the two police officers where in their office for.

They were about the same age as him and Nora, both wore the typical black uniform of the VDP including the badge and the belt over the coat that was used to attach their weapons to it, they both also seemed to be a little nervous.

The man had messy blond hair and dark blue eyes, his partner was a tall woman with red hair that she tied into a ponytail and bright green eyes.

"So... uhm... We'd like to utilize your... service to help us in a case." the scraggly man said, clearly nervous about them being in the office.

"What my partner wanted to say, was that we need you two to investigate in the machinations of two people." his partner quickly rephrased what he said and continued "The thieves and robbers that are mainly known as 'The Rose petal thieves' are wanted by order of DA Ironwood and now we hire you to find out who those two women are and who helps them."

Surprisingly, the last article that Ren read in that old newspaper currently lying on his desk was about the duo. The last coup they pulled was the robbery of a small Dustshop in another part of town. 'From Dust till Dawn' was the name and with the exception for the monetary loses, everybody involved was unharmed. From what he could tell so far, the job might turn out to be a challenge.

"The VPD is lowering itself to hire outside investigators now? Times sure are desperate..." Nora told their newest clients as she pulled out the contract from one of the file drawers.

"Hey! We are not desper-" the man shouted insulted before being silenced by an elbow to the side from his partner.

"Sure..." Nora gave them a long look as she handed them the contract "Would you kindly both sign here and there." she added in a fake sweet voice.

Both police officers hesitated before the redhead took the pen Nora held out and signed her name on the contract. Her partner followed her example and signed as well and then handed the contract back to Nora, who had already a case folder ready for it.

"Thank you, officers. We will be sure to let you know as soon as we have a lead in the case." Ren told them with a smile as he stood up and led them to the door "And don't worry about the fees, we will discuss those once the case is closed."

With a forceful push, he shoved the two out onto the streets and closed the door behind them. As soon as they were gone, he let out a groan and walked over to the drawer with their stash of whiskey.

"Officers Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos" Nora read out their names, mimicking the voices of their newest clients "Do you think they have a thing?"

"Nora..." Ren sighed as he pulled out a bottle and fetched two glasses.

"What? I can't ask the important questions?" she replied with a grin as she took one of the glasses.

A smile came to Ren now as well as he filled both their glasses with the amber drink "I'm sure they do..."

* * *

"Okay, if the Captain finds out, I'm gonna take the blame."

"Jaune"

"I mean, it was my idea after all. Well, most of it anyways."

"Jaune"

"And don't get me wrong, I don't think the Captain will have our asses if she finds out, I just want to make sure that IF we get in trouble we-"

A ligth touch on his shoulder stopped his ramble and Jaune Arc looked at his partner.

"Don't worry about it Jaune, we won't get in trouble over it." she told him with a smile "Besides, if we get in trouble, I'll go down with the ship as well. We're partners after all!"

"Well, at least it was a nice ship as long as it lasted..." Jaune muttered as he and Pyrrha walked up the stairs of the precinct.

Once they walked past the captain's office, both froze as they heard her yell their names "ARC, NIKOS! In my office!"

"We're so screwed..." Jaune muttered under his breath as he opened the door for his partner, who seemed to have lost all the color in her face.

"Could one of you two explain to me why Junior Xiong is sitting in a jail cell the second time this week?" the captain yelled at them both.

"Well, he was hindering our investigations regarding the Rose Pedal case, ma'am." Jaune answered her "Also, he insulted both of us, which warrants an ar-"

The ice cold glare the captain gave them both caused the blond to stop mid sentence. Aptly nicknamed 'Ice Queen' behind her back, the former atlesian military officer expected the same militaristic precision from her subordinates and did not tolerate slip ups.

"I assigned you this case because the DA already has my ass for not having any leads as of yet and all my other officers are either on the Torchwick case, are Port and Oobleck or on the payroll of one of the families." she told the two through gritted teeth "Lucky for me that I have two officers left that are too stupid to be bribed..."

"Hey! That only happened once!" Jaune blurted out offended, before quickly shutting up again.

"Anyway..." the captain continued after shooting another glare at the blond "I expect more results in the next week than arresting Junior Xiong yet again without a valid reason! Understood?"

Both Jaune and Pyrrha saluted "Understood!"

Though not looking satisfied at all, the captain nodded "Good. Dismissed."

"You were right... we're screwed." Pyrrha said with a sigh as they walked out the office and toward the kitchen.

"But at least we have a chance to prove ourselves now." Jaune said as he took two cups and filled them with coffee.

"Hey Jauney Boy. You dropped something." another officer told him with a smirk as he knocked the cup out of his hand.

With loud shattering, the cup burst on the ground and spread it's contents over the floor.

"You are going to clean that, right Jauney Boy?" the taller man taunted him laughing as he filled himself a cup of coffee, emptying the coffee pot "Oh, and would you be so good an make new coffee as well?"

"Very mature Cardin..." Pyrrha told the taller officer while Jaune simply began to make new coffee.

"Oh, do you need to be protected by your partner out on the field as well Jauney Boy?" Cardin taunted Pyrrha's partner, who ignored him and began to clean up the coffee that was spilled.

For a moment Pyrrha considered telling Cardin her thoughts about him, but decided not to, so he would just leave.

After kicking away a few shards of what remained of Jaune's mug, Cardin laughed and walked away again.

"Someday..." Pyrrha said, gritting her teeth, while Jaune put away the last shards of ceramic.

He then laid a hand on her shoulder and shook his head "Don't bother, it's not worth it, trust me..."

"Yeah... you're probably right."

* * *

It was a rare thing to be alone in the office, but for the cases when Nora needs to stock up on cigarettes or other things, Ren enjoyed the silence.

Surprisingly enough he managed to fall asleep in his office chair for a few moments, before the creaking of the opening door woke him again.

The characteristic sound of high heels walking over the wooden floor drew his attention however, as Nora didn't wear shoes like this.

"Good evening, what can I do for you?" Ren asked, still groggy from his short rest, while he looked the newcomer up and down.

A young woman stood in front of him, wearing a long grey coat and what he could only guess was a white business dress beneath. Over one of her eyes, the woman had an interesting scar that seemed to have come from a fight.

"I believe the better question is what I can do for you." she said nonchalant as she pulled a wallet from her purse "It's come to my attention that you were hired to track down the Rose Petal thieves?"

"That's non of your business lady..." Ren told her, now sitting upright again and watching her closely "With a job like mine discretion is important."

"Well, I came here nonetheless to make you an offer. I will pay you whatever you want in order to... let important clues disappear, if you know what I mean." the woman continued without even acknowledging his initial refusal.

"Listen lady, all I want is to keep a roof over my head, have a steady flow of customers and finally have a good nights rest-" as the last part crossed his lips he stopped and hesitated.

Nora usually woke up at 5 am and the first thing she did was wake him up as well, because of this and the fact they usually worked till past midnight, he was deprived of sleep the most days. Being in a relationship with an hyperactive woman certainly had its benefits, but this wasn't one.

"Very well then..." the woman said, a hint of disappointment in her voice "I am sorry we could not come to an agreement..."

"Wait." Ren stopped her from leaving "My girlfr- My partner usually stands up very early, causing me to miss on much needed sleep. If you... could make sure she is too tired to stand up tomorrow, I'll see what I can do. For now."

Smiling, the woman gave Ren a nod "Excellent. I do wish you a good night then."

"We'll see about that..." he muttered as the woman left the office again.

It wasn't too long after that Nora returned again.

"You won't believe what just happened!" she exclaimed exited as she burst in their office "Remember Yang Xiao Long? We went to school with her! She and her sister are in town and invited me to go out with them!"

"They did?" Ren asked surprised, before quickly adding "Uhm, I mean why are you still here then?"

"So you don't mind if I go out with them and leave you alone?" she asked surprised while she put her cigarettes in her desk.

"Don't worry, I'll close can close up shop on my own as well." he replied with a smile "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"You are the best!" Nora exclaimed exited as she gave him a peck on the cheek and left as quick as she came in.

Not too much later Ren decided it was time to close and go home. While making sure everything of value was locked away and no files were lying around openly, something occurred to him. It's a strange coincidence that their old school friend shows up and invites Nora to go out the same evening as that mysterious woman came to bribe him. Could it be that there was a connection? Maybe Yang and her sister were working for the Rose Petal thieves? Maybe they even were the Rose Petal thieves?

"It's probably just coincidence..." he said to himself as he locked the door, dismissing his earlier notion.

As soon as he came home, he fell into the bed and fell asleep, hoping that the next day wouldn't start as early as usual...


	2. Chapter 2

**To be honest, I finished this chapter not a day after chapter 1, but I wanted to wait a bit to update, so I have a bit of a buffer if I get stuck at some point.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

Taking a day off usually was something Lie Ren considered, but in the end never did. He liked his job, even if it meant sleeping the bare minimum, just to survive.  
This day was different however. A distinctive lack of hyperactive furry, that usually woke him, caused him to sleep well past midday.  
As he slowly rose out of bed, he looked around to see why he wasn't woken up earlier. Next to him, still wearing the cloths of the previous evening, was Nora.  
With a small sigh he walked into the kitchen to make breakfast. Or was it lunch already?  
A quick glance on the clock in the kitchen caused him to freeze.  
3:49 PM  
Nora didn't sleep in, especially not ten hours...  
With a feeling of dread, Ren slowly walked back to the bed.  
He didn't mean that! He didn't at all!  
Slowly, hand shaking, he reached out to gently touch Nora's neck.  
There was a pulse.  
And she breathed steadily.  
A heavy sigh of relieve escaped him as the woman turned around with a groan and covered her head with a pillow.  
Chuckling, Ren returned to the kitchen to make breakfast.  
The smell of freshly brewed coffee, as well as a mountain of pancakes soon brought Nora out of bed.  
Clutching her head and shoving one pancake after the other in his mouth, Nora's hangover slowly seemed to fade.  
While she ate, Ren noticed a note lying by the door of their apartment. He walked over and picked it up. Surprisingly, a single rose petal dropped from it as he took the note.  
It was written in a rather masculine handwriting, but Ren couldn't help but think a woman wrote it.

 _"Dear_ _Nora,_

 _It was great_ _seeing_ _you_ _again!_  
 _However, my sister and I won't stay around in Vale for too long. We'll visit our dad in Patch for a few days, so if you wanna catch up some more, swing by!_  
 _He'll probably be happy to see you again, but you know how he is sometimes._  
 _Also, if anybody wants to know about us, point them to the cafe on the Luna Alley._

 _Love, Yang and Ruby"_

Looking down on the rose petal, Ren considered if this might be a clue as to who the Rose Petal thieves were. They did however make sure he had a good sleep, so he picked the petal up and put it in his pocket. After all, what good would it Nora do to have that petal.  
"Nora, your friends left a letter for you."

* * *

"Okay, all I'm saying is that we might have missed something on the last robbery." Jaune argued while playing around with a piece of paper "We should ask some of the witnesses again, maybe they have some details that might help?"  
His partner looked up from the report she was writing and gave him a curious glance "It's been over a week, what do you expect them to tell you?"  
The blond policeman gave her a shrug "I don't know. Maybe they remember some witness we haven't questioned yet?"  
"That's..." 'stupid' came to Pyrrha's mind immediately, but she wanted away from her desk "at least a start..."  
"Great!" Jaune said with a grin as he stood up and put his uniform jacket on.  
With a small smile, Pyrrha stood up as well and followed her partner out.  
"I hope you are working on the case and not going to arrest Junior again?" the Captain asked them as they passed her while getting a coffee.  
"Uhm, yes ma'am!" Jaune stuttered, surprised to see her rather calm mood.  
The captain smiled to herself and proceeded to return to her office "Very well..."

The two wasted big parts of their day questioning the victim and the witnesses again. Most of them even remembered when exactly the robbery happened, let alone if they saw someone that stuck out.  
Jaune's motivation soon turned to desperation.  
"We never gonna find anything about the thieves, right?" he asked, shoulders slumped down and staring at the coffee in his hands.  
Gently touching his shoulder and giving him a warm smile, Pyrrha tried to lighten his mood "Don't worry, we'll find something, I'm sure..."  
"Yeah, you're probably right..." Jaune replied with a chuckle, shaking his head about his pessimism.  
"Now, we still got some witnesses left, maybe we are lucky?" Pyrrha said as she tossed her own cup in a waste bin and proceeded to get into their car.

"You know, now that you say it... I do remember this other guy..." the older gentleman told Pyrrha "He was wearing one of those fancy suits. And I think a red tie? He did look pretty shady though. I think."  
"Uhm, you wouldn't suppose to know who that might have been?" Jaune asked, taking notes about the man's account.  
"No, sir." the man said, shaking his head "But maybe I know some other stuff? I'd be ready to exchange info."  
Pyrrha raised a eyebrow "For what?"  
A grin appeared on the old man's lips "How about your telephone number, sweetheart?"  
Jaune's jaw dropped surprised, while Pyrrha turned a bright shade of red and gave the gentleman a cold smile "Thanks that's all..."  
"Red tie an business suits sound familiar to you too?" Jaune asked, trying to not bring up anything else the witness said.  
"Junior's gang..." Pyrrha replied while they entered their car again "The Ice Queen is going to kill us..."  
"Yeah..." her partner replied as he started the car "At least it's not too far away..."

* * *

Calling Junior Xiong's bar shady was an understatement. Next to it, an illegal private club in the basement of some home looked like a trustworthy establishment.  
Not unsurprising to either Jaune or Pyrrha, the door was damaged, like most times. Entering the bar, they were surprised to see the utter chaos the establishment was in. Usually the brawls in the bar ended with either Junior throwing the troublemakers out or getting arrested.  
"Hello again!" Pyrrha said as Junior came into view, holding a bag of ice against his head.  
"Oh come on! You were here just two days ago! Give me a break!" the owner of the bar cried out as he saw the two enter.  
"We're not here to arrest you, Junior." the redhead told him calm, while stopping in front of him.  
Jaune shrugged "Well, probably..."  
"What brings me the honor of Officer 'Too stupid' and his partner Officer 'Too nice' then?" the barkeeper asked annoyed.  
Both cops looked around, ignoring the insult as good as possible and then looked back at Junior. The man understood what they wanted to know and immediately went into a defensive position "There was a brawl last night okay? I anything you two should be here to arrest the three that did this!"  
Jaune crossed his arms curious "So, who did this?"  
The barkeep noticeable hesitated before giving an answer "Uhm... some guys caused some ruckus, nothing big."  
"Nothing big?" the blond asked surprised "Your whole place is a mess! I mean, there are burn marks on the ceiling, one of your two singers has a black eyes, there are rose petals everywhere."  
While he talked, Pyrrha picked up one of said rose petals "Speaking of which, why are there rose petals everywhere?"  
"Uhm, you know those damn faunus guys that go around trying to sell you roses?" Junior replied almost immediately "Well, he might got into the crossfire and that's why his roses are everywhere."  
Jaune looked surprised, but nodded "Oh, okay..."  
As opposed to her partner, Pyrrha didn't believe the story so easily "Sure..."  
"Look, you came here for a reason, right? Or did you just drive by and decided 'Let's go and arrest Junior'?" the man tried to change the topic.  
"Yeah. One of your guys was seen at the last robbery of the Rose Petal thieves." the blond policeman told him "I suppose you don't know anything about that?"  
Junior let out an angry sigh before calling one of his men over "You were there when the dust truck was robbed, right?"  
"I... uhm yeah." the man reluctantly answered.  
"So, you saw the Rose Petal thieves, right?" Pyrrha asked him calm.  
"Uhm..." backing away from her slowly, the man tried to think of what to say.  
He proceeded to bump into Jaune, who moved behind him in order for him to not get away "Hey now, we just want a few an-"  
With a single punch in the face, Junior's man knocked the blond out cold and started to run for it.  
"Hey!" Pyrrha called after him as her partner went down. After a moment of hesitation if she should stay with her partner or pursuit the man, she decided to catch him.  
As she came out of the bar, she could see the man running down the street. If she wanted to catch him, Pyrrha had to use their car and get in front of him. Jumping into the car and trying to turn the ignition, she realized that Jaune probably had the keys with him.  
"Damn..." she muttered as she held her hand to the ignition and concentrated on it "Please work."  
After a moment of trying, the ignition turned without key and the motor started. Immediately, she hit the gas and sped after the running man. It didn't take long for her to be on one level with the man.  
"Please stop, we just want to talk!" she called out to the man, but he seemed to ignore her, turning into a side ally.  
Hitting the brake, Pyrrha managed to turn the car and get it to stop at an angle at which she could easily drive into the ally, following the man.  
"I said stop!" she yelled again, subconsciously pushing the gas further.  
With a loud crash, the man went flying over the car and hit the ground behind it, hard. Shocked, the redhead hit the brake and came to an halt not too far away "I'm sorry!"  
"Pyrrha!" Jaune called out as he came running into the ally, having apparently not been knocked out for too long "What happened?"  
"I... uhm..." she muttered as she exited the car and walked towards the man on the ground.  
Lying on the ground, the man seemed to have injured his leg, as he was clutching it "My leg..."  
"We should probably get him to the hospital..." Jaune commented, scratching the back of his head.

* * *

For some insane reason, clients tend to call them at home during after hours, if something important happened.  
With a sigh, Ren picked up the ringing phone "Flower Power detective firm..."  
The name was definitely Nora's choice. If he had a say in it, they'd probably have a reasonable name. Therefore he preferred if customers contacted them directly so he wouldn't have to say the name out loud.  
"Uhm, yeah, Hey this is Jaune Arc. You remember, we hired you for-"  
"I remember..." Ren replied calm while he watched Nora lighting a cigarette and dropping into their couch with a sigh.  
"Oh? Uhm, great!" the cop replied surprised, but continued "Listen, we might have something and I thought I'd let you guys know as well. So, you know, we are on the same level."  
"Yes?"  
"Right... We just had a... Talk with a witness from the last robbery. Apparently he saw two people who looked extremely similar to them in his workplace last night."  
"Which is where?"  
"Junior Xiong's bar, down at Hullum Street."  
"Junior's Bar?" Ren asked surprised. He knew the establishment and on one too many occasions he was dragged there by Nora to get some drinks. Also, Junior was arrested on a regular basis, but always let go again as his crimes were nothing major that couldn't be forgotten with a little bribery.  
"You know that place? Uhm, anyway apparently those same two wrecked havoc their and laid the whole bar to pieces."  
"Where is your guy now? We might need to talk to him as well..."  
"Yeah about that... He's uhm... In the hospital."  
"What?"  
"Listen, I've got nothing to do with it okay?" the officer tried to explain over the phone, but broke down to Ren's silence soon enough "Okay, we might have accidentally broken his leg, but he's safe for now. We made sure that an officer is with him at all times. Witness protection and stuff. But I'll make sure you two can get to him and talk with him!"  
"Thanks..."  
"No problem! Okay, bye!"  
Before Ren could reply, the policeman hung up.  
"Who was that? And what was that with Junior's Bar?" Nora asked as she came up to him.  
"Someone had a nasty fight inside and wreaked havoc..." Ren replied as he hung up the phone as well and turned to his partner "Where were you last night, anyway?"  
Scratching the back of her head and looking down on her feet, she struggled to say something "Oh uhm... You know... Here and there..."  
"Nora?"  
She broke down immediately "Okay! We were at Junior's!"  
"You and your friends don't happen to have started a fight there, did you?"  
"Pfff, Noooooo"  
Nora was a terrible liar...


	3. Chapter 3

**Again, hope you like it!**

* * *

Being a detective required discussing and arguing.  
A lot of arguing.  
"Ren, all I'm saying is that Yang and her sister might be involved in this!"  
"That's ridiculous. They are back in Vale only a few days, while the Rose Petal thieves are active for over two months!"  
"Yeah? People lie!" Nora replied annoyed as she put her cigarette in the ashtray "You of all people probably know that the best!"  
Ren looked surprised at her for a moment, before letting out a big sigh "You are right... But I don't think we follow the right lead here..."  
Nora gave him a small nod "Maybe, but it's our only lead at the moment!"  
"Are you sure?" Ren replied, taking her somewhat off guard "This Arc guy told me that they've got a guy who claimed he saw the thieves in Junior's bar yesterday. We could go talk to him as well!"  
"You... haven't told me that..." his partner replied, a hint of disappointment in her voice.  
"Well, we've _been_ arguing ever since I got that call..." he said, somewhat disappointed in himself for failing to give his partner this information, which to be honest wasn't unimportant.  
Both remained silent for a moment, before Nora took the word again "How about this: Tomorrow, we go to Patch and check in with Yang and her sis. And after that, we go talk to the guy in the hospital?"  
Ren gave her a nod "Sounds good."  
"Yeah, and if anything happens while we're in Patch with them, Yang and Ruby are out of question!"  
"That'd be... convenient."  
The grin on Nora's face quickly turned to a frown "That also means we'd have to start at square one..."  
"Probably..." Ren agreed, walking back to the kitchen, where they had a plan with all the ferry traffic from and to Patch.  
As he looked back at the redhead, she was slumped over and let out a long sigh "Aaaand that means I've got to pack some stuff..."  
"We probably won't need any..."  
"No?"  
"We'll probably be there for only a day after all..."  
A smile came back to Nora's face "You are right!"

"Hey Ren?"  
"Yes Nora?"  
"What if they are though?"  
"What do you mean?"  
Nora sat up and turned on the light on her nightstand "What if Yang and her sister _are_ the Rose Petal thieves?"  
"Then it's probably good they don't know that we suspect them..."  
"That's not what I meant. If we ask them tomorrow, they'll know." she told him worried "You don't know Yang like I do. She sure as hell wouldn't go down with one hell of a fight..."  
"Let's worry about this tomorrow, okay?" Ren told her as he turned away from the light and buried his head in the pillow.  
Nora laid a hand on Ren's exposed shoulder "But I'm worried that something bad might happen to you!"  
At the touch, Ren turned around again and looked her in the eyes "Nothing bad will happen to me or you tomorrow."  
"Promise?"  
"Promise."

* * *

The yelling of the Captain was probably audible on the other side of the street, while bombs were dropping from the sky "What in the name of everything holy is wrong with you two?"  
"I can-"  
"NO!" the Ice Queen cut off the redhead "I've got enough of your explanations for the next two lifetimes! Simply the fact that you put a man in the hospital would warrant a suspension for both of you! And let me tell you something: I'd personally arrest you both if it weren't for these... specially circumstances."  
The captain of the Vale Police Department looked down at the two officers sitting in front of her and let out a sigh "If it weren't for the fact that you found new leads in regard to the Rose Petal thieves and that you are one of the few of my men I can afford to _trust_ , your punishment would be far more severe."  
"I- It would?" Jaune burst out surprised, but was silenced both by the elbow to the ribs from his partner and the glare of the captain.  
"Yes, it would, Arc..." the Ice Queen said with an almost sweet voice, leaning forward towards Jaune "BECAUSE I WOULD PERSONALLY SHOVE YOUR BADGES AND WEAPONS UP BOTH YOUR ASSES!"  
Jaune swallowed audible as he sunk into the chair he was sitting in.  
"I'll put you back on patrol and I've given the Rose Petal Case to Black and Sustrai for now..."  
"WHAT?" Jaune burst out again, this time more worried than anything else "You trust them with this case? You can't do that!"  
"No I don't, but you two left me with no choice. They, as opposed to you, show results." the captain's voice turned into a fake sweetness "And don't make me reconsider your punishment, Mr. Arc. Dismissed!"  
Both exited the office of their boss in silence.  
Standing right outside the office, big grin on his face, was Cardin "Heard about the roadkill, Nikos."  
"Shut it Cardin..." Jaune told him as they walked past.  
"You two DO know that you put them out of their misery usually, right?"  
"Just... keep on walking... It's not worth it..." Jaune told himself as they walked away, while Cardin was called in the captain's office as well.  
After checking up on all paperwork, they went back to their car and got in.  
With a sigh Jaune let himself fall into the driver seat and leaned back "This is the worst week ever... of all time..."  
Only as he heard the quiet sob next to him, he realized that Pyrrha hasn't said a word ever since they left the captain's office. Looking over to his partner, he saw how she struggled to keep a straight face and tears running down her cheeks.  
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, trying to sound comforting.  
A sad chuckle escaped Pyrrha "What's wrong? Everything went wrong! And now you got into trouble because of me. Again!"  
"Hey, last time it was my fault. Besides, it wasn't that bad..."  
He only received a look from Pyrrha before he let out a sigh "Okay it was pretty bad... But you don't need to worry about me. Trust me with that."  
"Still... I'm sorry..." Pyrrha told Jaune as he started the engine of the car.  
"Don't be..." he replied calm, before he started to chuckle "Also, I would have bet all my money that I would be the first to cry on this case..."  
Now Pyrrha started to laugh as well.  
"C'mon you can't tell me you didn't think the same!"  
"I'd never!" She did.  
"Of course not... Now, let's get some coffee, we still got to go on patrol tonight..."  
"Hey Jaune?"  
"Yeah?"  
Pyrrha gave her partner a smile "Thanks. For everything."  
"Don't mention it. That's what partners are for!"  
"Still. Thank you..."

* * *

The takeoff from the flight deck didn't go as smooth as expected. For some reason, one of the lines holding the airship down was still attached to the ground when the ascent began. After a few minutes, they were on their way again.  
It wasn't a great way to start your day.  
"You know, you could almost get paranoid that _someone_ _doesn't_ _want_ _us_ _to_ _come_ _to_ _Patch_." Nora pointed out, trying to mimic a creepy voice.  
Ren glanced at his partner for a moment, before looking out the window again. It didn't take long until the island of Patch came into view. Once an idilyc place, the rise of heavy industry turned it into what it was now. Dark yellow fog surrounded the town and parts of the island, with only the smokestaks of the many factories piercing through it.  
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are arriving at Patch soon. For everybody who is leaving the ship, we from the Helios Air Service wish you a save stay." the announcer declared from the ship's intercom, while some of the passengers stood up and grabbed their belongings, Ren and Nora one of them.  
It might have looked strange that Ren allowed Nora to carry her bag, while he didn't carry anything, but he knew from experience that it wouldn't end well for him, or the ship for that matter.  
"So, how do we get to Yang's dad?" Ren asked as they stepped off the landing pad and into the station. It was strange to see an almost empty station like this, as most of them were usually buzzing. Patch's however barely had a full staff, as most people who live on the island either couldn't afford a ticket or couldn't afford to leave the island.  
"I've been there once. It's somewhat outside of the town, but we should be getting there pretty quick." Nora told him as she swung the bag over her shoulder.  
They exited the building and immediately noticed the stinging smell that filled the air, but even though it was barely bearable they walked along the street in search for a cab. As they finally found one, they quickly got in and told the driver, a faunus woman with long rabbit ears, to take them outside of town, to where Nora believed the Xiao Long house was located.  
The drive there took some time, and while they were on the road, Ren noticed that the driver was repeatedly looking at them through the rearview mirror, but it could have been because of Nora's happy humming. The fog slowly started to fade as they left the town, but still didn't clear completely.  
Pulling up to the place Nora told the driver to go, they paid what they owed and exited the car. Looking at the house in front of them, it was clear that smaller parts of it have come into disrepair over the years, but it was mostly fine.  
"Are you sure this is it?" Ren asked as they walked up to the door.  
"Nope..." came the reply as the ginger took the door knocker and brought it down on the wooden door multiple times.  
From inside the house they could hear someone unlocking three different locks, before the door slowly opened to reveal a tall blond man.  
"Yes?"  
"Uhm, Mr. Xiao Long?" Nora asked him uncertain.  
"And who are you?"  
"Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, we are private investigators and would like to ask you some things." Ren replied immediately.  
The older man eyed them suspiciously, before nodding and allowing them entrance. As Nora entered, he stopped her "What's in the bag?"  
With a sigh, she opened the bag and revealed the content.  
"This... Is going to stay right here, lady." he told her, grabbing the bag from her and putting it next to the door.  
To Ren's surprise, Nora just let out a sigh and nodded.  
As they were led into a living area, both detectives couldn't help but notice that Mr. Xiao Long was leaning heavily on a cane, his right leg apparently either injured or unable to move at all. While sitting down, the man let out a pained grunt while bending his leg "So, what do you want from me?"  
"Actually, we came here because your daughters told us that they'll be staying with you for some time. We wanted to make sure they aren't involved in our current case." Nora told him as she and Ren sat down on the couch opposite of the homeowner.  
"Yang and Ruby staying with me? That's rich..." the man told them as he was pulling a bottle, that was standing on the table between them, to him "Last time I saw either of them was over six months ago... Believe it or not, but my daughters and I aren't exactly what you'd call a happy family. They offered to kill me. And not in a 'putting you out of your misery' way." he pointed at his leg "Yang then also gave me this..."  
"They... They broke your leg?" Nora asked shocked.  
"Filled it with more lead than you would think a leg can handle, then proceeded to break a few of my ribs and left me here to get help on my own..." he recalled before taking a big swig out of the bottle "Hey... I remember you now. You went to school with Yang, didn't you?"  
Nora was taken off guard by the sudden realization of the older man "I- Yes I did..."  
"Trust me. Whatever those two try to make you think they are, they aren't. They aren't the fairy tale princesses they want to make you believe they are. They are the wolves. And if you aren't careful, they'll kill you and your friend here without second thought..."  
Nora remained silent, so Ren finally spoke up "Thanks for the warning... You wouldn't have a clue where we could find them, would you?"  
"My guess is probably as good as yours..."  
"This was all we needed to know..." Ren told him as he stood up again "Thank you Mr. Xiao Long."  
"Please, it's Taiyang." he told them as they were lead back to the door "Oh, and Signal Point is very romantic this time of year, if you know what I mean..."  
"Uhm... Thanks."  
"You're welcome. Goodbye." he told them as they left his home and before closing the door.  
"In the mood for a 'romantic trip', Ren?" Nora asked with a grin as she slung her bag over her shoulder again.  
"Why do I doubt this will be what I think it'll be?"  
"Great!"

* * *

"You know, being on patrol isn't _that_ bad..." Pyrrha said as Jaune handed her a cup of coffee.  
"Better than being out of a job for sure..." the blond replied as he took a sip from his own and then started the engine of the car again.  
As he pulled out of the parking lot they were in, they had a clear view of the main entrance of the bank on the other side of the street. Only moments later, an explosion caused the big oaken doors to burst open and two figures came out. One of them seemed to be literally ablaze, shooting at any possible pursuers that might have come after them, while the other one was basically only a red streak that left what looked like rose petals behind.  
Jaune and Pyrrha exchanged looks and immediately acted. Turning the siren of the police car on, Jaune hit the gas in order to reach the duo that was running for a car of their own, while Pyrrha grabbed the radio to request backup.  
"This is unit 24110. Robbery in progress at Simmon's Brothers Bank. Suspects might be the Rose Petal thieves. We are in pursuit and request backup!"  
With screeching tires, the getaway car accelerated, causing other cars to swerve to the side, one even hitting a fire hydrant at the side of the road. Hunting after them, Jaune tried his best to dodge the cars that were between them and catch up to the black car the robbers were in.  
To their surprise, a hand came out from the driver side as soon as they were directly behind them, and opened fire on them. One of the bullets hit the windshield at about the height of Pyrrha's face.  
"You alright?" Jaune immediately asked, only glancing over to his partner for a moment.  
"Don't worry about me, it missed." she told him, while grabbing her weapon from behind her.  
Glancing over to her again, Jaune noticed that she was starting to crawl out the side window "What the hell are you doing Pyrrha?"  
"Don't worry. Just hold the car steady and don't lose them!" She told him before exiting almost completely, only her feet still in the car.  
Pyrrha tried her best to keep balance, while she lifted her rifle and took aim. It didn't take her long to get her target in her sights, but the speed of the cars, as well as the bullets that were shot at them didn't really help.  
She took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.  
Missed.  
The bullet hit the asphalt of the street only a few inches away from her target.  
Again, she tried to steady her aim and took a deep breath. She waited for her heartbeat to slow down, before pulling the trigger again.  
This time, the tire of the car ripped open and caused the driver to lose control over it. With a loud crash it hit a light pole and came to a halt.  
Jaune immediately stopped their car as well, not too far away and in a way that it could act as a shield from the bullets.  
It didn't come as a surprise that the driver and the passengers of the getaway car got out of it not soon after. The two suspects hit the road immediately and ran for it, soon disappearing from sight. The driver however didn't run.  
A black haired woman in a black leather jacket and wearing a driver cap, stumbled out of the wreck and turned towards the two policemen. Without hesitation she lifted her gun and opened fire on both of them.  
Jaune, who was on the closer side of the car at the time, barely managed to get behind the vehicle without getting shot.  
"Great. This day probably can't get any worse now..." he said as he grabbed his weapon from inside the car "I just jinxed it, didn't I?"  
"What do we do?" Pyrrha asked, ducking behind the car as well.  
"Give me a second..." the blond policeman replied as he glanced over the car, a bullet grazing the roof of it just a few inches away from his head "Woah, that was close..." he said as he dropped back down to his partner "Okay, but I think I have a plan. Do you see the clothes line that is hanging above her? If you could hit that it might fall on her and give me an opening to charge her."  
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Pyrrha asked worried as she spotted the line her partner was talking about.  
He remained silent for a moment and glanced at the shooter again "No, but it's all I've got right now..."  
"Okay, if you are sure then..." the redhead said with a small sigh before aiming for the line "Get ready..."  
The moment he heard the shot and the attachment of the line breaking apart, Jaune pulled his sword out of its sheath and leaped over the car. Just in time as his shield expanded, he could hear a bullet hitting it.  
Hearing the surprised gasp of the woman, Jaune took his chance and swung his shield at her, knocking her down. With a groan she struggled out from under the cloths, only to face Jaune, who immediately put handcuffs on one of her wrists.  
As he wanted to put it on her other wrist, she dissolved into smoke "What the..." someone tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around, only to meet the fist of the woman with his face.  
With a hard impact, Pyrrha tackled the woman down again and this time managed to put handcuffs on her.  
As they put her in the back of their car, Jaune rubbed his jaw "Hey uhm... Could we agree that I didn't go down when she hit me?"  
Pyrrha gave him a mischievous grin "I'm not sure yet... But maybe I'm open for bribe?"  
The blond cop groaned "Oh come on Pyrrha! We're partners!"

* * *

"So, remind me, why are we doing this?"  
"Because of the money."  
"I s'pose you're right..."  
"Of course I am! Now let's go!"  
The doors of the truck opened and the four men jumped out, and stormed towards the bank.  
"Alright everybody! We're back for more!" the blond faunus yelled as loud as he could.  
"Freeze!" came the answer as multiple guns were pointed at him and his men.  
"Ah shucks, we shouldn't have come back..."  
"Oi, your plans suck, Sun!"  
The four were quickly arrested and led away.  
From the distance, a woman watched as each of them was put in a police car, a satisfied smile playing over her lips...


	4. Chapter 4

Rain was pouring down on the island when they finally arrived at their destination. Signal Point was a cliff side sanctuary long ago, but it had been abandoned for decades now. A large three story mansion was build there, overlooking the cliffs and the shore down below. There were plenty of stories of how some daughters of the former owners flung themselves down there, their bodies breaking on the rocks that waited below.

The looming silhouette of the building was illuminated by a lightning far out in the sea.

"This place looks... Unsettling. Ren noted as they walked up the road that lead to the mansion. Large, old trees hung over the road, protecting them from most of the rain, but were also creeping them out.

"You think? I think it looks like an old castle!" Nora replied excited, almost jumping at the last word.

Ren had to chuckle at Nora, knowing that she loved castles from a young age.

"Soooo... Should we knock?" she asked as they stood in front of the massive wooden door that formed the entrance to the building.

"I don't think anybody is going to open, Nora."

"Huh? Oh, uhm, yeah, you're right." Nora stuttered, before pushing open the door so the two could get out of the rain.

The inside of the mansion was unlit and covered in dust. Old portraits covered the hallways however, most of them were covered in pieces of cloth, in order to prevent damage.

Pieces of the wooden wall were slowly rotting away, revealing the stone wall beneath. Interestingly enough, some parts of Sanctuary Point's seemed to be many centuries old.

"Who do you think are on all those portraits?" Nora asked curious as she peaked under one of the sheets.

"Probably some old owners. As far as I know it's been abandoned for over a century now..." Ren replied while looking at a bookshelf that was standing in the hallway.

It had a wide variety of different genres in it, but there were some books that stood out to him.

"Uhm, hey Ren. You said the place has been abandoned for how long?" the question interrupted the detectives train of thought.

"Yes..."

"So, then why is here a painting of the Mayor?"

"... What?"

With a swift pull, the piece of cloth revealed an image of a tall man, wearing a dark green suit. The small glasses on his nose seemed to be more a decorative item than anything else.

"That's..." Ren began, looking at the painting that already began to crumble in some places.

"Creepy?" the redhead replied, earning a nod from her partner.

"It's... Probably just an ancestor..." Ren said after a while, still looking at the painting.

Both of them entered what looked like it was once used as a library, but most of the shelves were either empty or burn marks covered them and the books that were stored on them.

"Hey, there are a few photos on the table..." Nora said as she walked over to it, picking one up and showing it to Ren "Look familiar?"

On the faded picture, there was a group of four people posing next to a tree. One of them Ren recognized as Taiyang, albeit at least thirty years younger. While Nora took a closer look at the photo, Ren noticed another picture, that was lying on the table. On it were who he assumed was Yang and her sister, faces obscured by scarfs they wrapped around their heads. In their hands they held what looked like expensive jewelry.

 _"Yang and Ruby return_ _from_ _their_ _first coup alone._ " Was written on the back with a date on it. The date was the same day as the Rose Petal thieves' first robbery took place.

"Dammit..." Ren whispered as he put the picture in his pocket, without Nora noticing.

"I wonder what it would have been like growing up in a place like this." Nora mumbled with a sigh as she spun around in the middle of the room "Before the whole abandoned thing, of course!"

"It probably made you a snob." Ren jokingly replied as he walked over to her "Moreso than now."

"Oh, very funny mister!" she replied and playfully boxed him in the shoulder.

Laughing he stumbled back a bit, Nora's punches _always_ hurt, and looked at her dead serious "You know we probably wouldn't have-"

A loud cracking sound interrupted him and echoed through the abandoned library.

"That didn't sound good..." Nora whispered and looked at the ground, expecting it to drop any moment now.

"No, it really did-"

Turns out, Nora was correct.

* * *

"Captain, we're sorry for trashing our car and-" a glance from the white haired woman silenced Jaune immediately.

Calmly, she took a piece of paper in her hands and then looked at them both "You two could have been killed today... This piece of paper could have been one of the letters I'd have to write then."

Both Jaune and Pyrrha looked ashamed at their feet.

"And all you two are concerned is the state of your car..." the captain continued, looking at both of them before letting out a sigh "Truth be told, I'm actually proud of you two for once..."

Both police officers looked surprised at their superior.

"What?"

"You are?"

A smile played over the lips of the captain, before she returned to her serious self "Don't let that go over your heads! I also decided to return the Rose Petal Case to you two..."

"Thank you, ma'am!" Pyrrha said with a smile on her face.

"But this time don't make me regret that choice!" the captain told them calm "And don't make me have to write those letters, either!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the two said in unison as they saluted the white haired woman.

"Now get out, I have still work to do. You two can go home." she told them cold, returning to a file that was on her desk.

"We should probably talk to the driver, before going home..." Pyrrha suggested as they left the office of the captain and returned to their desks.

Jaune grabbed the file that was in his own desk and flipped through it. It contained the criminal register of the woman they had arrested earlier this day.

"Blake Belladonna..." he read out loud from the file "Age: 27, has been arrested multiple times already. Mostly for reckless driving or... Huh, seems she used to be part of that Faunus Rights Group turned racist supremacists... Illegal gatherings, resisting dispersion of demonstrations, attacking a police officer and, wow, planning a bombing... She's got quite some stuff on record. Only reason she's not in prison is because she apparently rat out her bombing buddies before they were ready..."

"It's sad that the racism in our world forces so much faunus to do things like that..." Pyrrha said with a sad sigh "I mean, we could be sitting in there right now if it wasn't for... Well..."

Jaune let out a sigh as well "Yeah, I know... Let's go talk to her."

To their surprise, the jail cell was empty and the woman nowhere to be found.

"Where... Where is the woman we arrested today?" Jaune asked the officer in charge shocked.

"Uhm... Lt. Black came by ten minutes ago and told me to let her leave, because her bail had been paid and the _actual_ robbers were already apprehended."

"What?" the partners shouted in unison.

"Yes, here are all the forms for it as well, so it apparently went smoothly."

"Okay, this is bad..." Jaune muttered, rubbing his temple.

"Wait, does it say who paid the bail?" Pyrrha asked, grabbing the clipboard with the filled out form.

The officer in charge of the jail shook his head "No, been paid anonymously..."

"Damn..."

The blond policeman let out a sigh "We can't do anything about it now, anyway... Besides, our shift is over."

"You're right..."

Both Jaune and Pyrrha left to go change out of their uniforms and then to head home.

"I think I've got a plan." Jaune said while changing, facing away from his partner and into his locker.

Pyrrha looked at him curious "What is it?"

"How about this: we go and talk to _Ms._ Belladonna on our own. At the very least we might be able to get some answers..."

"And how do you think we'll find her?"

"Where is the shadiest place in the city that we _know_ for a certainty the Rose Petal thieves have been at?"

"... Junior's bar."

"Exactly! If she's not there, chances are Junior knows how to get in touch with her!" Jaune replied proud, turning around for a moment before immediately turning back again, face now burning red.

Pyrrha let out a chuckle "That's a terrible plan."

"And a desperate one as well. So, you in?"

"You're gonna go either way?"

Jaune nodded into his locker, while closing his belt awkwardly "Most likely, yes."

"Fine, I'm in." his partner told him with a smile as she closed her own locker "Now, let's get home. We'll meet back at Junior's bar."

"Sounds good. At ten?"

"Alright"

* * *

The world was pain. Pain and a lot of dust in the air.

Letting out a loud groan, Nora pushed herself up from the rubble that once was the floor below them.

"Ren, are you alright?" she asked, looking around the room they fell into.

"Just... a few bruises..." Ren's reply came after a while, after he dug himself out of the debris.

"Hey, that looks like a base of operations!" Nora exclaimed as the dust slowly settled and revealed the room they were in.

On the walls were the blueprints of multiple buildings, notes written on them where to gain entrance from.

"Could it be we found the base of the Rose Petal thieves?" she asked as she walked over to a blackboard that seemed to have the outline of a plan written on it

"Summer: getaway, Tai: distraction, Raven & Qrow: retrieval."

"I think we fell into the base of another gang..." Ren told her as he looked at a wall filled with newspaper articles.

 _"White Rose strikes_ _again!"_ , " _The_ _Hunt_ _goes_ _on."_ and _" White Rose_ _suspected_ _to_ _have_ _stolen_ _Vytal_ _Diamond!"_ were a few of the headlines that stood out. But there were two in particular that caught Ren and Nora's attention.

" _Raven_ _Branwen_ _sentenced_ _to_ _live in_ _Prison_ " was one of them, the image showing a black haired woman, bound by multiple chains, standing in front of a jury.

" _Leader_ _of_ _the_ _White Rose, Summer Rose,_ _sentenced_ _to_ _death_ " Nora read the second headline "That's been over twenty years ago!"

"Hey Nora, could you show me that picture again?" Ren asked and then held the picture so both could see it "So, then this is a picture of the White Rose... That would be Summer, then this Yang's dad, this is Raven Branwen and this..."

"That's this Qrow guy then. Like on the blackboard!" his partner pointed out to him, pointing over to the old blackboard.

Ren furrowed his brow "Huh, if he got anything to do with the Black Crow?"

Shrugging, Nora turned away from Him and looked through the shelves that lined the walls. Most of them were filled with blueprints and old gadgets. Some still seemed functional, but most where already rusting away.

While browsing through the stuff in them, Nora noticed that on one particular shelve, there was something strange about the layers of dust that settled there. In one place, there was far less of it covering the board then everywhere else.

"Someone took something from here not too long ago!" she told Ren, who was browsing through the blueprints, but didn't seem to find anything in particular.

Shoving the blueprints back into the shelf they came from, Ren made his way over to where Nora was, to inspect her findings as well "It looks like there was a box or something... Maybe a book?"

"You could be right..." Nora said as she looked closer at the dust, before inhaling a bit of it, which caused her to sneeze and blow part of it away.

"Well... Whatever it was, the print in the dust is gone now..." Ren said with a heavy sigh.

"Sorry..." Nora replied, rubbing her itchy nose.

"Don't worry about it..." Ren told her, it might have been just an unimportant thing someone stole, while doing so, he also noticed something else "Hey, Nora, do you smell that?"

After a moment, she shook her head "No, what is it?"

"Smoke..." Ren told her worried "We might have to grab what we can and then leave quickly!"

"Okay, what do we need?" Nora said, clapping her hands together.

"Get the newspaper clippings and the pictures, I get some of the blueprints and other stuff!" her partner told her, as he proceeded to grab those plans that seemed important.

"Uhm, hey Ren, I think the newspapers were covering something..." Nora told him after taking off the old newspapers, revealing a door that previously had been hidden.

Looking up, Ren could already hear the loud crackling sound of fire, slowly creeping up to the library "I think we don't have any time, Nora."

"Then let's get going!" Nora said with a nod as she shoved the newspaper clippings in her bag.

As they climbed back through the hole they fell through, thick smoke was already hanging in the room. The dooming glow of fire shone from the still open door of the library and as they left the room, both could see down the hallway, where the fire was eating away on the structure.

"Let's get out of here!"

Bursting through the main door, both stumbled out into the pouring rain again.

"You alright Ren?" Nora asked, breathing in deeply, after having inhaled too much smoke.

"Yeah..." Ren replied, but sounded absentminded "But I think we got another problem right now..."

"What is it?" Nora asked as she looked over to her partner, before seeing what he saw as well "Oh..."

Two women were standing in front of them, one of them looking eerily familiar, but neither of them could really tell where they saw the faunus woman before.

"The way I see it..." the woman wearing sunglasses and holding a large rifle pointed at them said "You really have one option here... Handover the stuff you got out of the mansion and we might let you live."

"And what if we don't take that option?" Nora asked, the grip around her bag tightening.

A small chuckle escaped the woman, as she pointed her rifle at the redhead "Well, then prepare to die."

Lightning illuminated the sky for a moment, before the thundering sound of a rifle echoed through the air...

* * *

"Hello again!" Pyrrha greeted her partner, who was already waiting for her outside of Junior's bar.

Jaune gave her a smile "Hey there, Pyrrha."

"You're looking nice." Pyrrha complimented the blond man with a smile.

Surprised, Jaune looked down on himself. Wearing a simple brown leather jacket over a checkered dress shirt with a black tie, he didn't seem to have put much thought into what he wore. On his right shoulder, it looked like a patch was sewn on, but had been ripped off.

"Oh... uhm, thanks? But I think you look way nicer!"

Wearing a simple red dress and a coat over it, Pyrrha chuckled at him "Let's go in."

"Let's"

The bouncer standing outside looked both of them over, before opening the door for them and letting them in "Enjoy your stay at Junior's..."

"Thank you." Pyrrha told him with a smile as they entered, slightly irritating the bouncer for a moment.

"Uhm... You're welcome?"

The bar was, to the surprise of both police officers, quite full, with people sitting on almost all available tables. Smoke hung heavy in the air, while one of the twins was on stage, singing about flying to the moon and playing among the stars.

"Hello, what can I get you two lovely-" Junior said behind the bar as the two approached before recognizing them "Oh, it's you..."

"We're off-duty, Junior..." Jaune told him as he was sitting down at the bar.

The black haired barman's jaw dropped "Wait, so you two... Damn..."

Hand reaching in his pocket, Junior pulled out a bundle of Lien, counted them and handed them to the other twin, who was working behind the bar at the moment.

With a satisfied smile, she took the money, before winking at Jaune and Pyrrha and disappearing from behind the bar, probably to bring her money to a safe place.

"What was that about?" Jaune asked confused, pointing after the singer.

With an angry sigh, Junior shook his head "Nothing... So, what can I get you?"

"Well, we were here to talk with you actually..." Pyrrha told him, before the man pointed at a shield hanging above the bar.

 _"No drink, no food, no talk."_

"Ugh... Then a gin and tonic, please..." Jaune ordered with a sigh.

"Me too, please"

Junior nodded, grabbing a bottle from behind him "Two gin and tonic, coming up."

"So, you know the Rose Petal thieves, right?" Jaune asked as the two glasses were placed before them.

The man froze for a second, before he glared at the blond "Who told you that?"

"They wrecked your place no two days ago..." Pyrrha replied, before taking a sip from her drink.

Leaving his head hanging and letting out a loud sigh, Junior nodded "True... What do you want to know this time? I already told you I barely know anything about them..."

"Do you know a Blake Belladonna?" Jaune asked while playing with his glass.

"I don't..." the man shook his head, before shaking it again "Wait, actually... I think I know her. Black haired faunus with kitty ears?"

"That's her..."

"She used to be a member of the White Fang. You know, that faunus supremacist group? Left it a few years back after the Lavender assassination as far as I know..." Junior told them, while filling up a glass of his own with whisky "Been a driver for a few years before retiring. Way I heard it she's been only working for friends now..."

Jaune began to cough violently after taking a sip from his own drink, before waving away any help "Sorry, just swallowed the wrong way..."

"Sure..." Junior said with a cocky smile, before emptying his own glass.

"Do you know anything about her whereabouts?" Pyrrha proceeded to ask him "We might need to talk with her."

The barman shrugged "Sorry... last time I saw her was a few weeks back. Hasn't been here since."

Writing down what he told them on a small notepad she pulled out of her purse, Pyrrha smiled at him "Thanks! You sure you don't know more about her?"

"Not really, no..." Junior replied, shaking his head "But, if you stay here, you might get lucky and she shows up... Heard she botched a heist today, so maybe if you're lucky?"

"So what, we just sit here all night and wait to see if she shows up?" Jaune asked confused, while grabbing a handful of peanuts that were in front of him.

With a grin, the barman pulled out two more glasses and filled them up with whisky as well "No, you gonna sit here and drink. The amount of money I lost because of you two isn't gonna get less if you just sit here."

"Uhm... I'm not good with alcohol, thanks." Jaune replied, gently pushing the glass away again.

"We'll see about that..."

A few hours later, Jaune and Pyrrha found themselves exiting the bar via a side exit that Junior showed them. As soon as the fresh air hit him, the blond man stumbled behind a dumpster and threw up.

"You alright there, Jaune?" the redhead asked worried, not sure how long it would take for her to follow his example, while her partner stumbled back towards her.

"No..." he groaned "I told him I wasn't good with alcohol..."

"Mr. Arc? Ms. Nikos?" a voice asked from the front of the ally they were in.

Trying to see who was talking to them, Pyrrha answered hesitant "Uhm... Yes?"

"Excellent!" the voice said as two men walked towards them "You see, our employer asked us to bring a request to you two."

"And what would that be?" Jaune asked, leaning against the dumpster.

"Well, it is quite easy. You two stop all your investigations in the Rose Petal case and accept the men arrested as the culprits behind the robberies." the man explained calm, while the other one was silently standing next to him.

"Or what?"

"We'll make you..."

Pyrrha laughed at the two men in front of them, while trying to appear sober, failing miserably at it "I'd like to see that."

"Uhm, Pyrrha, I think they might be serious..." Jaune told her worried as the two came towards them.

"Oh yeah, we are!" the man replied with a grin as he put brass knuckles on.

Stepping in front of Pyrrha, Jaune raised his fists "You really think we go down without a fight?"

"At least a little struggle would be fun, yes!" The man replied before swinging at the blond, hitting him straight in the face and bringing him down to the ground, while his partner grabbed the redhead.

Pyrrha tried to brake free from his grasp, but the alcohol in her system made her underestimate the strength of her opponent. Even though she managed to free one of her arms, she was barely able to do anything against the man. The only swing she took at him was easily blocked and her arms were both back in the same position as before, only this time the grip was far tighter.

The other man meanwhile kicked Jaune in the stomach, causing him to groan in pain.

With a smirk, he continued to kick the blond man on the ground, while his partner made Pyrrha watch "Besides, we only need to beat the crap out of one of you. And we're gentlemen after all..."

* * *

 **Nothing to note on this chapter, except maybe that I already have plans for a sequel, which makes me somewhat upset for different reasons...**

 **Anyway, till then!**


	5. Chapter 5

Leaping to the side in the last moment, Ren managed to dodge the hail of bullets that was thrown at him. With one swift motion, his hands went beneath his coat and out came his pistols. Without hesitation, he opened fire on the two women that were attacking the private investigators, forcing them to dodge his attack.

"Nora!" he called out, having lost sight of the redhead after they were attacked.

"Watch out!" the familiar voice called out, as he was pulled to the ground, only moments before another salve cut through the air.

Lying on top of him, Nora gave Ren a dirty grin.

"Really bad timing..."

"I know..." Nora replied with a sigh as she quickly rolled off of him and reached for her bag "Ready to get your assess kicked?"

The woman with the sunglasses glanced at them and laughed "Do you really think you stand a chance against us?"

"Do _you_ think you stand a chance?" the redhead replied with a smirk, reaching into her bag.

The content of the bag quickly unfolded, turning into a massive warhammer. With one powerful swing, Nora brought it down on the muddy ground, creating a wave of dirt that rushed at the woman with the rifle.

In the same instant, Ren noticed the faunus woman running up to them from the side, a pistol in her hand and aiming for Nora. With a quick spin, he managed to get between them and fire a shot at her himself. Luckily for them, his aim was true and he hit her in the knee, causing her to cry out in pain and dropping to the ground, as part of her leg was shattered by the bullet.

Shocked, the second woman called out to her partner, lowering her weapon in the process, before being hit by the wave of mud Nora had created.

"Nora, let's go!" Ren told her as he started to run past the now dirt covered woman, leaving the faunus woman screaming in pain.

"Just as it was getting fun!" Nora replied upset as she began to follow the black haired man.

"Nora..."

"Right behind you..."

To their surprise, a car was parked not too far away at the old street that once led to Signal Point. Without hesitation, both got into the unlocked car, which probably belonged to their assailants, and Ren quickly started the engine, as the key was still in the ignition.

"You know, I should probably feel bad for taking their car..." Nora said as she flung her bag with her hammer on the backseat, before pulling a cigarette and a familiar lighter out of her pocket "But you know what? They had it coming!"

Ren didn't give her a reply but instead looked in the rear mirror to check if one of the women were following them to the car. After a second, he drove off, away from the cliffside and into the forest that surrounded it.

Dark creatures lurked in the shadows, but almost never dared to leave them. Ren was worried that the sound of the car might lure them out, but after a while realized his worries were unwarranted. While he was driving, Nora constantly switched between positons she sat in, trying to be comfortable while reading some of the news articles.

"Hey, how about this:" she said suddenly, before reading a snippet of an article out loud " _Even though_ _given_ _the_ _chance_ _to reduce her sentence to live in prison, like her former_ _partner_ _in crime Raven_ _Branwen, Summer Rose_ _declined_ _this_ _offer, as it would have required her to give up the location of her partners'_ _hideout. Her final words,_ _shortly_ _before her execution last Monday, were_ _reportedly_ _as follows: 'I_ _gladly_ _die for those I love'._ You know, that almost sounds romantic."

"If your kind of romance involves dying, I don't want a part in it, any longer." Ren replied emotionless, before chuckling.

"Very funny..." Nora replied, glaring at him "But seriously, maybe this woman is Ruby's mother? I mean they got the same looks and last name! And if so, then it would only strengthen my suspicion that _Yang and her sister_ are the Rose Petal thieves!"

"We shouldn't jump to conclusions..." her partner told her with a sigh "But you know that, anyway..."  
Nora nodded, before letting out a big yawn.

"You should get some sleep, the sun rises in a few hours and then we can take the first airship back to Vale."

"Okay..." the redhead nodded, before using her coat as a blanket and turning to the side to get some sleep "Hey Ren?"

"Yes Nora?"

"Thanks for always looking after me..."

"No problem..."

"I love you."

"I love you too, Nora."

Ren felt terrible as they boarded the airship, but not because of the lack of sleep, he had gone longer times without it and was fine, but because of the picture in his pocket that seemed to weight a ton.

They had ditched the car at a nearby parking lot, leaving it unlocked and with the key in the ignition, much like they found it a few hours earlier. Maybe the owners would even find it and take it back.

With a sigh, he sat down in his seat and looked over to where Nora sat down, on the opposite side of a table that was between them. It was a more luxurious airship than the one they came with, offering a lounge to its passengers in which drinks were served, at a horrendous price of course.

Calmly lighting her cigarette, Nora leaned back in the chair she was in and looked through the room, eyeing the people around her, like she sometimes did when bored.

Ren was always bothered by how nonchalantly people smoked in these airships, as they were held in the air by massive hydrogen tanks that were always at danger of turning into massive fireballs. But he didn't tell that to Nora, as he had long learned to live with her quirks and addictions.

"So what are we going to do next?" the woman asked with a smile as she grabbed a newspaper that was already lying on the table "Go talk to this guy in the hospital?"

"Either that, or we could try and find out more about this Qrow character."

"And where would we do that?"

Ren shrugged "I don't know... The best bet would be the underworld, I suppose?"

"So, Junior's bar..."

"That way we can also get some more info on the Rose Petal thieves. If we're lucky we get a new lead."

A sly grin suddenly played across Nora's lips "And if not, I'll break his legs!"

" _Threaten_ to break his legs!"

"Right..."

* * *

A pulsing hot pain, creeping through his head, suddenly woke him up.

Slowly opening his eyes, blinded by the bright light that came in through the window, he tried to make out his surrounding, but failed to recognize any familiar shape, so he was not at home most likely.

Jaune thought for a moment what the last thing he recalled was. The last clear memory he could find was of him and Pyrrha entering Junior's bar.

Letting out a sigh, his chest convulsed in pain as he drew breath. A surprised gasp escaping him, Jaune quickly sat up, hoping to stop the pain, but it didn't help and made it only worse.

As he looked down on himself now, he realized that his chest was bandaged, while there where one or two spots that were darkened from blood. His pants were also covered in bloodstains, but it didn't look or feel like his legs were hurt. Nearby, his shirt and undershirt were lying on the ground, covered in bloodstains as well.

"What the hell happened yesterday?" he quietly asked himself as he took in his surroundings.

He was in a rather simple bedroom that contained a bed, a wardrobe and a simple mirror, mounted on the wall.

Looking at his own reflection, he wasn't so surprised his head felt like bursting open any second now. His nose was swollen and bruised, a trail of dried blood still visible. However, there was still no recollection of what exactly had happened the night before. From the injuries, Jaune guessed that he got into a fight with somebody. But that still didn't explain how he got here.

Slowly getting out of the foreign bed, he walked over to the door, to see where he was exactly.

As he reached for the doorknob, the door swung open, hitting him in the face and knocking him down.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" a familiar voice called out, but the blond couldn't quite put a face to it yet.

With another groan of pain, Jaune pushed himself back on his feet, gasping for air.

"What... where am I?" he asked confused as he struggled to stay on his feet.

Grabbing him by the arm, the woman gave him an apologetic look "You.. You're in my apartment."

Slowly recognizing the auburn haired woman, Pyrrha, Jaune looked confused at her "... Why?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" the redhead asked him worried, before leading him into what he assumed was the living area.

It was as simple as the bedroom, with only a small couch, a coffee table that was littered with books and different papers, a small radio next to both and a small bookshelf that was attached to the wall in it.

"We... we're going to Junior's..." Jaune answered slowly as he sat down, a grunt of pain escaping him "I think..."

"Yes, we did..." Pyrrha replied with a hint of regret in her voice as she sat down next to him "And we might have gotten a little bit drunk..."

Jaune raised an eyebrow "I got into a bar fight? Was it at least worth it?"

"Actually, you didn't..." the redhead replied "This... This happened after we left..."

"... You didn't beat me up, did you?" the blond policeman suddenly said "If so, I'm sorry for whatever I did!"

Taken aback, Pyrrha's cheeks turned red for a moment, before she shook her head "No! Uhm... Well, two thugs attacked us and you fought them off... Uhm... But the two of them were sober, which gave them the upper hand for a while..."

"Huh... That would explain my exceptionally good looks today." Jaune replied with a laugh, before flinching in pain "And my probably cracked ribs..."

Worried, Pyrrha tried to help him, but he waved her off with a smile "Don't worry about it... But that still doesn't explain how I got-" he turned quiet before looking at

Pyrrha with a mix of surprise, shock and something she couldn't quite put an emotion to "Did-".

The redhead immediately shook her head to interrupt him, face turning even redder "No! You... Collapsed after the fight, so I brought you here and took care of you! That's why you are here!"

"Thanks then, I guess..." Jaune told her with a smile "Wait... I still woke up naked... Pyrrha, did you take off my clothes?"

"Maybe?" the woman replied with a grin, before raising her hands "To my defense, I- I did it to patch you up!"

Jaune's hand absentmindedly wandered to a spot on his chest that was bandaged up "I suppose you're right... Thanks, Pyrrha."

"We're partners after all!" she reminded him with a warm smile.

"Yeah..." the man said with a nod, before an audible rumble came from his stomach.

"How about breakfast?" Pyrrha offered, jumping up from the couch.

"We should really get to work, don't you think?" Jaune asked, while slowly but surely getting up as well, still clutching his chest with one arm.

"Don't worry about that. I already informed the captain that we couldn't come in today, because of a lead we have." his partner countered calm, before putting her hands in her hips "So... Breakfast?"

* * *

"We should go to our office first. Better we don't keep those on us..." Ren told Nora as they entered a cab.

"To Shaw Crossing, please." the woman told the driver, acknowledging Ren's suggestion.

With a nod, the driver pulled out of the parking spot.

"I'm not quite sure what is worse..." Nora said after a while "The fact that somebody already knows we're on this case... Or that they already sent someone to kill us..."

"It's not like we haven't been threatened before, Nora..." Ren replied calm.

The streets of Vale were surprisingly empty for the time of day. Something felt off. Usually the streets were buzzing with traffic and you could barely fall over in the crowd of people that was walking the sidewalks. But today it was looking far less chaotic and rather calm. Of course, for someone from a town outside the city, this many people would still look like a massive crowd, but it was noticeably less for an inhabitant.

"Hey, what's going on today? There's so few people out..." Nora asked the driver, apparently noticing it as well.

"You haven't heard? The mayor has declared Roman and Neo public enemies today." the driver told the two "There is even a bounty on them right now. Big enough for some to skip work to get them."

Roman and Neo, Ren remembered, was a crime duo with quiet a record. A career criminal and a rich girl, going around the whole kingdom, robbing banks, stealing Dust supplies and killing policemen left and right. But apparently they did something to anger the mayor, a feat that not many achieve, especially not criminals. He felt bad for them, being hunted by the public, even though they had it coming.

The rest of the drive was uneventful and after they paid and exited the cab, the two detectives quickly made their way to the small office they had. Located above a butcher of all places, the entrance to the office was a simple black door with a metal plaque next to it.

 _"Flower Power Private Investigation"_ was imprinted on it, reminding Ren each time what a terrible name it was.

Nora absentmindedly unlocked the door and quickly walked up the stairs to the actual office, while Ren picked up the mail, that was lying behind the door.

All three letters were checks addressed to the firm. One of them drew the man's attention however.

It was directly addressed to him, written in a very girly handwriting.

As he opened it, a single rose petal fell out of it.

 _"For your_ _inconveniences._

 _Also, as a friendly (and last)_ _reminder_ _of our agreement._

 _I will soon contact you_ _personally_ _again..."_

Together with the letter, there was a check over 500 lien, which both him and Nora made in a month.

Ren knew immediately who wrote the letter and check and quickly let it disappear in his pocket, where the photo he found still was.

As he finally came into the office proper, Nora already sat behind her desk, feet rested on it and a cigarette between her lips. She let out a delighted sigh, while Ren pulled the blueprints, the photos and the newspaper snippets out of her bag.

"I'm putting those in the safe space and then we can head out again, okay?"

"Yeah okay..." the woman replied as she put her feet down on the floor again "Make sure it's locked before we leave!"

"Have I ever not?"

"... Yes"

"Just once..."

"Still one time more than me." Nora told him with a smirk as she stood up again.

Ren punished her with silence, while both of them left their office again.

"Soooo, when we get to Junior's bar, don't be shocked if there might be a brawl..." Nora told her partner as they went down the street, while waving for a cab.

"I'm always expecting that when we are there..." Ren replied with a grin.

"You're not funny, Ren..." Nora told him with a straight face as a cab stopped for them and she got him.

"No..." he replied as he got in as well "I'm hilarious."

Trying to remain quiet, but failing, Nora started to giggle and wrapped her arms around him "Sometimes..."

Ren wrapped one arm around her as well and told the driver where to go. As the drive went on, he absentmindedly watched the buildings pass by, while the sun peaked through the clouds. It was a nice change to the usually rather bleak city. Even though he knew that it was purely optical, he enjoyed the moment, before reality inevitably caught up to him again. Once the cab pulled into the shadier parts of the city, the hope and happiness seemed to fade from the people. More homeless were out and about, scavenging for whatever they could use or sell, some veteran who seemed to have lost an arm in battle, stumbling through the streets drunk and women who tried to sell their bodies to support themselves and their families.

Finally, the cab stopped in front of Junior's bar. After paying the driver, both detectives exited the car and walked into the establishment.

"Welcome!" the owner greeted enthusiastic, before recognizing Nora "Came back for more?"

"Why, do you want more?" the woman replied with a cocky grin.

"Nora..." Ren silenced her, before turning to Junior "We're here because we wanted to ask you some questions..."

"You're welcome to ask..." Junior replied, crossing his arms in front of his chest and looking expectantly at the two.

With a sigh, Ren pulled out a bank note and slowly placed it on the counter.

A smile crept over the man's face as he put the note in his pocket "And I'll be glad to answer!"

"Ever heard the name Qrow?"

The smile on Junior's face immediately disappeared again "Who told you that name?"

"Oh, you know..." Nora told him, while lighting a cigarette "We got our sources."

"So, you know that name?" Ren asked again, glaring at the other man.

With a grunt, Junior pulled out a bottle from behind the bar and filled a glass with it. With a swift motion, he downed the beverage, before refilling the glass again.

"You know..." Nora said, playing with the glowing cigarette in her hand, while blowing smoke in the face of the bar owner "Those hurt... A lot."

"Pah..." he replied unimpressed before downing the second glass.

"But breaking your legs will hurt even more." the redhead told him with a cold glare in her eyes, before dropping her cigarette in his glass.

Junior now glared back at Nora, his head slowly turning red in anger.

"You know I wouldn't stop her, even if I could, right?" Ren told him calm, while pointing at his partner.

After another glare from Nora, Junior raised his hands in defeat "Fine! I'll tell you what I know. It's your lives..."

"So, Qrow. Name ringing any bells?" Nora asked him, clearly satisfied by her intimidation skills.

"His name is Qrow Branwen, if it is actually the guy you are looking for..." Junior told them with a deep sigh "You probably heard of him as ' _The Black Crow'_... He's the crime lord of large parts of Vale and Patch... Basically owns Patch to be honest..."

"Wait, Branwen?" Ren interrupted him "Like Raven Branwen?"

"Yeah, that's his sister as far as I know. She's sitting in prison for over twenty years now, though..."

"We know that already... Any chance he is connected to the Rose Petal thieves?"

"What is it with those robbers that all of you guys suddenly have?" Junior asked them confused "First Officer 'Too Stupid' and Officer 'Too Nice' show up and ask around multiple times and now you guys as well?"

"Wait, ' _too Stupid'_ and ' _too Nice'_?" Nora interrupted the bar owner "A blonde and a redhead?"

"Yeah, they're here on a somewhat regular basis, but instead of trying to arrest me for ridiculous reasons, they came to ask questions... Even put one of my men in the hospital." Junior explained, while cleaning out his used glass "And yesterday they even came as civilians... Started to ask questions like you... Didn't do them much good.."

"What do you mean?" Ren asked with a raised eyebrow.

"They got pretty wasted before I send them home. I allowed them to leave through the side exit, because I kind of liked them." he explained with a shrug "One of my men found blood in the ally today. I'll probably miss them..."

"What?" Nora asked him shocked, before grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and almost pulling him over the counter "What did you do to them?"

"Woah! I didn't do anything! They came in and started asking questions! Someone might have heard them and decided to make them disappear!" Junior told them, panicked because of Nora's sudden outburst "Or- Or maybe it's just some other poor saps blood! Listen, I don't know!"

"What questions did they ask?" Ren simply asked, while pulling out a small notebook and clicking his pen.

"They asked about a Blake Belladonna..." the owner of Junior's bar answered "A getaway driver and faunus. Told them everything I knew about her. But that's basically nothing!"

"Thanks!" Nora told him with a smile before dropping him with a loud thud.

"Yeah, yeah, you're welcome..." the man replied, rubbing his neck "Now, I'd be grateful if you two left already..."

Ren nodded "He's right... Let's go..."

"Yeah, until next time, Junior..." Nora said with a smirk, before both detectives left.

"So, what now?"

"Well that depends... How worried are you about our clients, Nora?"

"Somewhere between _somewhat_ and _a lot_..."

"Yeah, me too..." Ren replied while signaling for a cab "We should get back to the office and find out where they live, so we can check if they're there..."

"I've got a better idea!" Nora suddenly said and ran back in Junior's bar, while Ren only looked after her, telling the driver to wait.

After a minute, she returned, a big yellow book in her hands "Let's go." she told her partner as she entered the car.

"A phone book?" Ren asked confused as he entered the cab as well.

"Yeah, so we can get their addresses!" Nora replied while browsing through the pages "There. Arc, Jaune - Gray Street. That's pretty far away..."

"What about her?"

"Gimme a second." the redhead replied as she ran her hand down the pages until she arrived at N "Let's see... Nikos, Pyrrha - Marquis Avenue. That's not as far! Let's check there first!"

"You heard her." Ren told the driver, who gave him a nod in reply.


	6. Chapter 6

Sometimes, lies were the only things that would help in a life or death situation.

"I haven't had anything as good as this in a long time!"

"Thanks, Jaune" Pyrrha smiled satisfied, before taking a bite from her own breakfast.

"So... What exactly happened last night?" the blond man asked, before taking a sip from his coffee.

"Well... We talked to Junior about this Ms. Belladonna and he suggested that she might show up there after the botched getaway from yesterday. And then he got us drink after drink..." his partner began to tell him, while he continued to eat "Sometime later, he decided it was time for us to leave,I think that was around midnight, and sent us out the side exit."

"Why did he do that?" Jaune asked confused.

"Uhm, well..." Pyrrha replied, laughing and scratching the back of her head "We probably would have started a bar fight if he didn't throw us out..."

Covering his face with his hands and letting out a groan as he touched the bruises, Jaune shook his head "I told him I'm no good with alcohol..."

"Anyway, just outside this two thugs were already waiting... Tried to rob us, I think." the redhead continued her story "You told them to scram, but they didn't take so kindly to that..."

"Wouldn't be the first time some thugs aren't listening to me..." the blond said with a chuckle, before groaning in pain and clutching his chest

"Damn..."

A laughter escaped Pyrrha as well, before she covered her mouth embarrassed "Sorry!"

Jaune just shook his head with a smile "Don't"

"Can I ask you something?" Pyrrha asked coyly after a moment of silence.

"Sure?" her partner replied confused, an eyebrow raised to complete the look.

"The scar on your chest. Where's that from?"

As if by instinct, Jaune's hand wandered to the spot, as if to protect it "It... It's a long story... Maybe some-"

A knock on the door interrupted him.

Pyrrha froze for a moment, before jumping up and running for her purse.

"Here." she said as she tossed something from it to her partner.

Catching it and looking down on it, Jaune realized the redhead just gave him her gun "What?"

"Okay, those thugs might have wanted something else and are now waiting outside. Just... Just keep them at bay while I get my weapon, okay?" she told him while running for her own weapon.

"WHAT?" Jaune repeated, now more shocked than confused.

"Just get the door!"

"Okay..."

Quickly running for the door, Jaune hesitated for a moment, his left hand on the door knob, while his other hand held the gun ready, in the case he really needed it.

Whoever was waiting on the other side, knocked on the door again. Taking a deep breath and trying to ignore the pain in his chest, he pulled the door open, making sure the gun was visible to the people on the outside.

"Woah!" a familiar black haired man called out as him and his partner dove to each side of the door "Okay, calm down. Whatever is going on, I'm certain we can work this out in a civilized manner!"

"What?" Jaune asked confused, before realizing how he looked, with his chest bandaged up and a gun in hand "Oh! No! Uhm... Okay, this really looks bad, but I can explain..."

"Who is it?" Pyrrha whispered from behind him as she approached, hiding her weapon behind her back.

"The two detectives." the blond replied, looking over his shoulder.

The tension seemed to fall off the redhead, before she quickly ushered the two into her apartment and closed the door behind them.

"So... Uhm... Sorry for the scare just now..." Jaune said to the newcomers, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

"We've had worse, Mr. Arc..." Lie Ren told him calm, but tried to step away from him nonetheless.

"Yeah, you could have been covered in her blood, for example!" the orange haired woman added with a grin, pointing at Pyrrha.

"Very bad example..." the off-duty policeman told her with a sigh "Also, just call me Jaune, please."

Ren gave him a nod before turning to Pyrrha "Thank you for letting us in, Ms. Nikos. We were worried we might not find you here..."

"Why did you think I wouldn't be here?" the redhead questioned, still on guard.

"Junior Xiong sure as hell thought you two wouldn't show up anymore..." Nora told her as she pulled a pack of cigarettes from her coat and put one in her mouth.

"Not in here, please..." Pyrrha told the woman, who was about to light her smoke "And why would he think tha-"

A second later, the redhead shook her head "Never mind... I think I know why..."

"Wait," Jaune said, realizing what his partner meant "you think Junior sold us out? That wouldn't make any sense! Those guys were some ordinary thugs!"

"I... might have lied to you about that..." she told him, lowering her head in shame "Sorry..."

The blond looked surprised at her "... What?"

"Listen, it's complicated. When you woke up and didn't remember what they said, I thought..." looking to the side for a moment to think, she nervously played with her fingers "I thought that if I told you, you might want to stop..."

"Wait." Nora intervened in the conversation, raising a hand between them "Don't say they threatened you?"

Pyrrha looked at her partner for a moment, who was now crossing his arms, but she couldn't tell if it was disappointment, shock, a feeling of betrayal, curiosity or a mix of all of them that were in his eyes "They... They told us to stop working on the case..."

"We were 'approached' as well last night..." Ren told her "But they didn't hold back with us... Apparently two dead private investigators are less trouble than two dead police officers..."

"That's... not very reassuring..." Jaune told him in a matter-of-fact tone, before looking back to Nora and Pyrrha "So, apparently we just stepped into a bee nest... If experience tells me anything, it's going to get ugly soon..."

"And that's the reason we are here... We think we should put all our information together, so we are all on the same page..." Nora told him, crossing her arms.

"Sounds good to me..." the blond police officer replied with a nod, before looking at his partner "Pyrrha?"

The redhead nodded, but didn't say anything else for the moment.

"We should get back to our office, we got most of the physical evidence there..." Ren told them "So you might want to get dressed so we can go there as soon as possible..."  
Both police officers agreed and quickly got ready to leave.

* * *

"So, what do we know?" Ren asked Nora while the two of them were sitting in a taxi, the two police officers probably right behind them.

"We know that Yang and Ruby lied to me about staying with their dad. Also that they are criminals according to him and probably staying with their uncle..." the woman began to recapitulate, counting with her fingers "Their father was also a member of the White Rose gang and Ruby shares a last name with the leader, Summer Rose. So we could assume that this was her mother."

"It might not be the best idea to focus on Yang and Ruby as the only suspects, don't you think?" Ren told her calm, before continuing "Maybe Jaune and Pyrrha have another suspect that might be it? Also, the two that attacked us on Patch should be suspects as well..."

"Hm... Maybe you're right..." Nora agreed "But shouldn't you be the one suspecting them and me the one trying to protect my friends?"  
Giving her a shrug as the cab came to a stop near the entrance to their office, Ren quickly got out of the car "Maybe..."

"Uhm... Ren, you see this too, don't you?" the woman asked alarmed as he came to her side, both looking at the door of their firm.  
Where the lock of the door once was, a hole gaped in the now splintered wood. Without saying another word, Ren ran for the door, his right immediately going into his coat to grab one of his pistols. Running up the stairs, skipping two or three steps at a time, he leaped stepped into their office, his weapon raised and waiting to be fired.

The place was a mess. The file drawers had been emptied, paper littering the floor, and most of their other stuff was strewn across the ground as well.

Realizing that someone tried to steal something from them, Ren made his way to the small bathroom that the office had. Apparently it wasn't left untouched, either, as the small medicine cabinet was ripped open and its contents thrown out. As he reached for the loose tile at about knee height, he let out a sigh of relieve. The lockable steel box that was hidden behind it was apparently unharmed.

Quickly pulling out the key to it, he unlocked it and reached inside. Everything he had put in was still right where he left it.

"Woah, what happened here?" he could hear the policeman ask as he apparently entered their office.

"Is it still there?" Nora, who stood in the door a moment later, apparently having pushed past the blond, judging from the sound he made, asked worried.

Sinking to the ground to sit, he waved the photo he had just pulled out, and gave her a nod "All still there..."

With a sigh, she offered a hand to her partner "Well, at least we've got that going for us..."

With one strong pull, Nora brought the black haired man back to his feet, pulling him close.

"Uhm, sorry to interrupt..." both heard the awkward voice of the policeman from the door "But, could I ask you something?"

"What?" Nora asked, shooting a glare at him.

"Could it be that the people that broke in here are the same guys that attacked us last night?" Jaune asked, trying not to anger the already slightly infuriated redhead.

"That's what I had assumed as well..." Ren replied in Nora's stead "Maybe they wanted to steal what we've got so far?"

"You know if they took anything?"

Ren shook his head while slowly pushing away from Nora and heading out of the bathroom with the box under his arm "All still there..."

Returning to the office proper, he saw that the metal file drawers were already standing again and the auburn haired woman was in the process of picking up the papers that were on the ground.

"Thanks, but you don't have to..." Ren told her with a smile before he picked up the remains of his secret stash of whisky "Great..."

"Here... You look like you need it." the woman told him, holding out a flask.

Surprised, Ren accepted the offer and took a swig from it, before giving it back "Thanks... I didn't think you'd be one carrying around a flask of booze."

"It's not for me." Pyrrha replied with a smile as she put the flask away again "I became a police officer to help people. And sometimes this is the best help you can offer..."

"Maybe you're right..." he replied as he put the box on his desk and opened it.

"Yesterday, Ren and I headed to Patch and visited Signal Point, an old mansion on the far side of the island." Nora started to explain to the two, while pulling out a photo, but not showing it to their clients yet "As it turned out, it used to be the hideout of a gang of robbers."

"The Rose Petal thieves?" Jaune asked, the hope in his voice clearly noticeable.

"No..." the detective replied "BUT! We might have got a clue who they are! Now, the gang that used this place was the _'White Rose Gang'_ ever heard of them?"

"They were notorious robbers some twenty years ago..." Pyrrha answered the question, crossing her arms and leaning against one of the file drawers "But what does that help us?"

"Well, the reason we were on Patch in the first place was to check on two friends of mine, who I went out with to Junior's bar a few days ago. Same night the Rose Petal thieves apparently wreaked havoc there. The day after, they left a letter for me, saying to come visit them with their father on Patch if we want. Turns out however, they pretty much hate ol' daddy and threatened to kill him..." the detective explained to her fellow redhead, while lighting a cigarette "He pointed us to Signal Point where we found this." She handed her the photograph, showing the White Rose "The blond one is him, Taiyang Xiao Long. The one in the white cape is Summer Rose, leader of the White Rose and what I assume the mother of my friend, Ruby Rose. That's one of Taiyang's daughters, the other being Yang Xiao Long. The other two are Raven and Qrow Branwen."

"Wait, Qrow Branwen?" Jaune asked surprised as he heard the name.

"You know him?" Ren asked surprised, not expecting the blond man to have knowledge of Qrow.

"I... Well... Kinda?" the reply came as a stutter "I might have met him once or twice?"

"You did?" Pyrrha asked, as surprised as Ren.

"Yeah uhm... Well you see my father used to be a lawyer. No big fish or anything. He helped whoever and however he could, sometimes also the hopeless cases. Then one day he was hired by this guy, accused of multiple crimes and probably guilty of all of them. But my dad... He gave his all on this case, believing in the innocence of this man. And in the end he somehow won. Against the now DA Ironwood of all people. " Jaune let out a sad sigh before he continued "That was the last case he ever took, quit soon after. This Qrow was really grateful, paying a hefty sum as well. I actually think they are still friends. But... Well something broke in my dad. He became a drunk and violent son of a-"

Pyrrha stopped him as she gently laid her hand on his shoulder "Do you know what became of him?"

Shaking his head in disgust, the blond answered "No and I'm not particularly interested in it, either..."

"The way I see it, you might get us in contact with Qrow." Ren told him, arms crossed and leaning against his desk "Which, for all we know might help us find the Red Petal thieves as well..."

"Yeah, Ren's right." Nora chimed in "So we might need you to talk to your dad and find out where this Qrow is hiding..."

After a minute of quietly mumbling to himself, Jaune finally nodded "Fine. I'll talk to him to find out where Branwen is now..."

"And what are you two doing in the meantime?" his partner asked the two private investigators, before snapping her fingers "You know, I might have an idea..."

"What is it?" the black haired man asked, while Nora was pressing the bud of her smoke into an ashtray she seemingly pulled out of nowhere.

"Junior told us that the driver we arrested, Blake Belladonna, has retired some time ago. And that she now only drives for personal friends."

"If that's true, it would mean that Yang and Ruby should know her!" Nora exclaimed exited, almost jumping out of her chair.

" _If_ they really are the Rose Petal thieves, which I still very much doubt..." Ren replied calm, before looking to Pyrrha again "So, you think if we convince her to work with us, we might get to them?"

With an apologetic look, the redhead gave him a shrug "Well we can hope at least... But you'll need to find her first. But that shouldn't be a problem?"

"Wait, didn't you just say you already arrested her?" Ren questioned her.

With a sigh, Jaune let his head hanging "It's a bit more complicated... She was let go again due to... Ugh... bureaucracy and probably money..."

Nora crossed her arms with a frown "So, any idea where we could find her then? She probably know someone is after her now..."

"Well, you could go talk to Junior. He told us yesterday that she would most likely show up there. But either she didn't or we missed her..." Pyrrha explained to her with a smile.

Surprised, the blond policeman looked at his partner "Wait, he told us that?"

Ignoring Jaune's question, Ren agreed to the redhead's idea "Alright. We go to Junior's and try to find this driver of yours. And you two go to Mr. Arc to find out if he knows where this Qrow is."

Pyrrha gave him a grin "Sounds like a plan."


	7. Chapter 7

"Came to bring back my phone book?" Junior immediately asked as he saw the two private investigators enter his bar the second time that day.

"What phone book?" Nora replied confused as she sat down at the bar, reaching over it to grab two glasses and a bottle "We want a few answers. Again."

Snatching the bottle from the woman's hand, the bartender gave her an angry grunt "Listen, I already told you that I don't know what happened to the two..."

"It's not about them..." Ren told him calm while sitting down next to Nora "We just want to know if Blake Belladonna has been here last night."

"So, the two are still kicking, huh?" Junior asked with a raised eyebrow "'Cause they were looking for her as well..."

"Was she here or not?" Nora asked, reaching for the bottle again, but was stopped by Ren.

Grumbling the owner of the bar gave them a nod "Yeah. She showed up..."

Signaling him to go on, Nora pulled out her cigarettes and lit one "And?"

"Well, she got nearly as wasted as the two cops..." Junior replied with a shrug as he filled the two glasses Nora had grabbed earlier with whisky "And also beat up some of my men. But that's nothing new for them..."

"Did she say anything?" Ren questioned as he took one of the now filled glasses.

"Sure. Everybody talks when they're drunk. Well... Most do."

"And?" Nora questioned once again to have the barkeeper continue.

"She wasn't in a good mood, I can tell you that. The job she did yesterday went south and she got arrested. Mumbled something about needing to get bribed out of jail and that some girl is gonna remind her of that for the rest of her life. Then she continued on about how much better life was when she was with the White Fang.

Bunch of supremacist pricks if you ask me, but someone like her would probably fit right in..."

"Like her?"

"A violent and criminal beasty." Junior replied with a shrug "Don't judge me, just telling how it is! Anyway... She went on and on how much better everything was back when. That she always had someone to turn to, always someone by her side and nobody would blame her for screw-ups... Naturally, I told her to leave if she plans on rejoining with that filth... But she just laughed at me and told me to go f-"

"We get the point..." Ren interrupted him before emptying his glass "Did she talk about anything else beside the White Fang?"

"She whined around how she screwed up and almost got her partners caught... I already knew the story from the other side, but according to her, the officers _doofus_ and _courteous_ would both be dead if it hadn't been for the cloths that came down on her. And to be honest, I think they were lucky too. Ice cold killer like her usually don't get caught alive. They get put down by police and leave a pile of bodies behind."

"That's all or is there more?" Nora inquired before chuckling "Please tell me you don't want to tell us something?"

Turning to Ren and refilling both their glasses, Junior whispered "Your girl is insane!"

"I heard that!" Nora chimed in with a cold smile, before taking her drink.

"Oh uhm..." the barkeeper stuttered, trying to come up with an excuse "There is more! Before she left she said something about going on a booty call. Guess she got a boy toy somewhere. A woman like her I'd not be surprised if it were multiple..."

Raising an eyebrow, Ren looked at the man for a moment, before speaking "Any idea who that might be?"

"Beats me..."

"You know who else is going to beat you?"

"Nora..."

"Sorry..."

"Great... Now we got as much as we had when we came in..." the black haired detective said with a sigh "Any idea where to go from here?"

"We're going to find the local White Fang cell and get some information out of them!" Nora replied with a casual voice, as if it was obvious what to do, while cracking her knuckles.

Ren simply stared blankly at her, blinking a few times.

"What?"

"Okay, you know I love you, Nora." he replied as calm as possible, raising his hands almost in defense "But this idea is straight up insane!"

"What? Why?"

"Because, chances are that we are going to get butchered if we do that..."

"Oh... I suppose you are right."

"We should better try and find out where Ms. Belladonna went after she left..." Ren suggested "After all, we try to find her and her associates."

"I can't tell you where to find her, but if it helps, I can tell you how she used to be contacted back when she was active..." Junior, who apparently followed the conversation between the two, offered "Just from hear-say, of course..."

* * *

"I really don't want to do this..." Jaune told his partner uncomfortable as they walked up to the small house in the outskirts of Vale.

It was one of the better districts, where many rich families lived their lives, without being bothered by the troubles of the city itself or its people. It was a rare case that the VPD had to come here, let alone arrest residents.

"Relax, I'm sure it will be fine." his partner replied as both stopped at the door and she pressed the doorbell.

With a sigh, the blond shook his head "You have no idea what you are talking about..."

The door opened and revealed a man that was about twice the age of his son, but beside the beard and the wrinkles on his face, looked exactly like him.

"Good day, Mr. Arc!" Pyrrha greeted the older man cheerful, before pulling out her badge, that she usually carried on her uniform "We are from the Vale Police

Department and would like to ask you some questions."

Mostly ignoring the redhead and her badge, the man looked at Jaune, a mix of surprise and disgust on his face "So you became a police officer, huh?"

After receiving no answer from his son, the man let out a sigh and invited them in "Come in, this usually takes some time..."

The man lead them through the house to an old office room, where he sat down behind a desk and signaled the two to sit on the two chairs on the other side. While walking through the house, Pyrrha noticed the lack of pictures with her partner on it. While there were dozens of pictures of who she assumed where Jaune's seven sisters, there wasn't even a single one of him.

"So, what does the VPD need from a retired lawyer?" Mr. Arc questioned them after a moment of silence.

Pyrrha gave him a nod before pulling out a small notepad to write everything down "Well, we were hoping you could tell us anything about the whereabouts of Mr. Qrow Branwen. You know him, I believe?"

Basically ignoring her question, Mr. Arc glanced at Jaune, before looking at Pyrrha again "Did Jaune here ever tell you what he did before he joined the police?"

"This has nothing to do with our investigations, so would you please answer my partner's question, Sir?" Jaune told him through gritted teeth, as calm as he was able to.

A smirk played over his father's lips, before he continued "Jaune here always had this illusion of becoming a hero. Always trying to play the knight in shining armor."

"Shut up..." the younger blond growled through still gritted teeth.

"Mr. Arc this wasn't what I-"

"Did he tell you that he enlisted for the army when he was sixteen. He even faked all his papers so that they would accept him." the man continued, ignoring both of them "But it wasn't _our_ army he joined. He joined the atlesean army. Back when it was still a band of bloody rebels. Thought he would be a hero."

"I said shut up..." his son told him again, this time louder.

"Oh, I heard you." the father replied grim "Well, he somehow got to Mantle and 'helped' bring down the government. But you know what he really did?"

"Shut. Up."

"His whole team got captured by the mantelian forces and the other three were all executed the same day. But our big _hero_ here somehow managed to flee." Mr. Arc continued, pointing at his child "He probably got even more people killed with whatever information he gave up to safe his own hide. And you want to know what these idiot rebels did?"

"Mr. Arc, I really just want-"

"They gave him a medal and called him a brave hero!" the older man now shouted "For getting his team killed and then running like the coward he is!"

"You said your piece..." Jaune told him, trying to sound as calm as he could, but his anger clearly shone through "Now answer my partner's question. _Please._ "

"You know what's probably the saddest part?" his father now directly asked Pyrrha "This coward is going to run again as soon as trouble arises. And you'll be the one to play the price this time..."

With an angry yell, Jaune suddenly leaped across the desk between them, pulling his father down to the ground with him and started to mercilessly beat down on the older man. Laughing at first about his son's anger, Mr. Arc soon began to beg for mercy and that Jaune would stop.  
Horrified, Pyrrha watched how her partner basically bashed his own father's skull in, before snapping out of it and rushing to him and pulling him of the older man.

Stopping him from hitting his father wasn't so much the problem as getting Jaune off of the man completely and bringing him to calm down. After a few calming words from Pyrrha, the blond slowly calmed down and didn't try to attack his father again.

Both Arc men were now sitting on the ground, Jaune leaning against the desk and his father against the wall opposite of it, gasping for air and glaring at each other. The younger man had one arm wrapped around his chest, breathing still causing him pain because of the cracked rips, while blood was dripping from his knuckles.  
Mr. Arc on the other hand was struggling to breathe at all, most of his face being swollen and covered in blood.

"So... You finally grew a pair, huh?" the man asked between heavy breaths, before turning to Pyrrha, who still kneeled beside her partner "Qrow... Hasn't been in Vale for quite some time. But he's been writing me from time to time. Says he found a new business venture to pull money out of the idiots' pockets." he weakly raised his hand to point to a sealed envelope on his desk "His last letter. I didn't open it, but it looks too formal to be from him..."

Together with his arm, he slowly lowered his head as well, apparently passing out.

"Is he...?" Jaune asked as he pushed himself up to his feet.

Holding her fingers under his nose, Pyrrha dreaded that she had to answer her partner "No. He still breathes." she told him with a sigh of relieve.

With an angry grunt, Jaune slowly started to make his way out of the house, closely followed by his partner, who grabbed the letter before leaving the office.

"What the hell was that?" Pyrrha asked shocked after leaving the house.

"I'm... Sorry you had to see this..." Jaune muttered as he put his bloodied hands in the pockets of his jacket and began to walk faster.

"Hey!" the redhead exclaimed as she reached after him and pulled him back, turning him around to face her "You almost _killed_ your father! You would have been a murderer!"

"And then you would have been there to arrest me!" Jaune replied angry, before he frowned "Listen, I'm sorry I lost it... But you don't understand what it was like with... Him. And everything else..."

"Then help me understand!" Pyrrha almost plead with him "We are partners, we have to trust each other! But more importantly we are friends! And friends don't keep secrets from each other!"

"I know! And I'll always be honest with you!" the blond told his partner "It's just... It's all one big mess and I rather not talk about it... But I promise you, I will tell you everything you want to know, just not today, okay?"

After a moment, she gave him a worried nod "Okay..."

* * *

"This is it?" Nora asked surprised as they exited the taxi and looked at the old building.

"Well, it's the address Junior gave us." Ren told her as he came to her side.

 _Free Street 10 Apartment 4b_ that was the address the bar owner gave them before they left. Neither of them expected the building to be what it was. Most buildings on Free Street were newer buildings, no older than fifteen years, but the one they were standing in front of looked like it had been around even before the Great War, in which most of the city was leveled. It wasn't in a good shape though, parts of the walls crumbling and most of the building was in overall disrepair. To both their surprise and shock, people actually lived in there.

The building looked as bad inside as it did outside, only that at least some effort was put into keeping the place clean.

Walking up the stairwell to the fourth floor, there were moments in which Ren was sure he whole building would collapse on them and bury them beneath it.

"There it is. Apartment 4b!" Nora whispered to her partner as they walked up to the door with the two metal symbols on it.

"So... should we knock first?" Ren questioned, as Junior didn't give them any instructions on how to actually contact the driver.

The redhead shrugged before stepping in front of him and hammering her fist against the wooden door.

"Helooo" she called through the door in an almost singing voice "Anybody home?"

"Talk about subtle..." the black haired detective said with a sigh.

"Ahw, you know me Ren. I don't do subtle!" the woman told him with a smile before giving him a kiss on the cheek.

After waiting for a few minutes, repeatedly knocking on the door again, Ren decided to get in another way. Looking around the hallway to make sure nobody is watching, he pulled a set of lockpicks out of his coat and started to work on the lock. A long minute filled with muttered curses and the chuckles of Nora, the lock finally snapped open and the door opened.

"Finally..." he sighed before slowly pushing the door open, expecting that some trap was hid behind it.

To his relieve however, the driver had no reason to install any traps for the case someone else than herself came through the door.

The apartment itself was apparently a hideout that was still in use, as multiple stacks of money were strewn across the bed of the single room. Multiple fake driving licenses were on it as well, all for the same woman, but each with another name.

"Hey, we might just stumbled into that Belladonna gal's home..." Nora speculated as she picked up one of the licenses, issued to a _"Selina Kale"_

"You know, that is called ' _Breaking and Entering_ ' right?" a male voice asked behind them.

Turning around, they saw a pair of police officers standing in the door. The male, who spoke to them just now, had silver hair and a smug grin on his face as he held up a pair of handcuffs, while his partner had green hair and olive skin.

"You two, are under arrest. Everything that you say can and _will_ be used against you." the woman told them as both of them came up to the private investigators and put them into the handcuffs "If you do not have or cannot afford a defense lawyer, you will be issued one-"

As they were lead out of a building, an elderly woman watched, Ren assumed she was the one to call the two cops.

"I... actually didn't expect that..." Ren whispered to Nora.

She simply gave him a toothy grin "There is a first for everything, isn't there?"


	8. Chapter 8

Sitting in a small room in the police department, Ren and Nora were both handcuffed to the table in front of them. As they did not resist their arrest, both were allowed to have a free hand. It had been quite some time after they were brought in that the man that arrested them came in again and told them they had the chance to use their phone call to call their lawyer if they had one.

"We don't have a lawyer." Ren told the man as polite as possible.

"Yeah, we don't need this phone call!" Nora added, clearly annoying the officer.

"Your choice." the silver haired man replied with a shrug as he left again "An appointed lawyer it is, then!"

After a few minutes of silence, Nora decided to break it and let out a sigh "I always thought I'd need that phone call to call _you_ , Ren..."

Surprised, the black haired man looked at his partner and raised an eyebrow.

"You know, to bail me out for something... Impulsive that I've done."

A chuckle escaped the man's lips before smiling at the redhead "You know that that's not what best friends are for, right Nora?"

"Uhm..." confused, Nora furrowed her brow "What?"

"I actually always figured we would end up here together..." Ren told her with a shrug "But I somehow never expected that it was because of me..."

"Well, _I_ always knew we would land in jail because of you!" his partner replied jokingly, before sticking out her tongue.

"Funny..."

A grin crept on the woman's face "I'm hilarious, I know."

"Oh cut-"

Before he was able to finish his sentence, Ren was interrupted by the sudden opening of the door to the room they were in. Walking in was the female officer that arrested them, together with a second woman.

The woman wore a bright green knee length dress and a tan blazer over it. Her hair almost matched Nora's in color and length, but were kept in check by a pink bow.

With a big smile, the woman strode over to the two private investigators and put her small leather backpack on the chair that was already there for her, while the police officer left the room again.

"Salutations!" she greeted them both, smile still persisting "You two cannot believe how lucky you are to be my first clients!"

Slightly taken off-guard, Ren shifted uncomfortably in his chair "Uhm... Well..."

"Wait! What?" Nora suddenly burst out, earning a curious look from their appointed attorney "How long have you been a lawyer, exactly?"

Pulling back her sleeve, the woman revealed a slightly too small, bright red, children's watch with the image of a popular cartoon character on it "For two hours, forty one minutes and ten seconds."

"Great..." the redhead, that was cuffed to the table, groaned and let her head fall on the table, creating a loud thud.

"Excuse her, please. It is nice to meet you, Ms. ...?" Ren immediately stepped in and tried to cover up Nora's reaction.

Looking at him for a moment, it appeared that it took a few seconds for their lawyer to realize what Ren was asking "Polendina. But just call me Penny!"

"We're so done..." Nora whispered desperate, her head still on the table.

Apparently ignoring her fellow redhead's reaction completely, the lawyer pulled out a small notepad and a pen from her bag "Now, I have a few questions for you, first off: Why did you break into Ms. Beltza's home?"

Snapping back up and squeezing Ren's knee to signal him to be quiet, Nora quickly gave an answer "She is our friend and... Well, she's taking diamorphine... And we hadn't heard from her in weeks and became worried... So Ren and I went to her place to check on her. But after not reacting to our knocking and calling, we decided to open the door on our own. Ren happened to have a lock pick with him and was able to open the door after a while, but as we came in and searched for her..."

"She wasn't there... We looked around to see if we could find a clue on where she is, but then the police officers showed up and arrested us..." Ren finished the story, impressed by what Nora made up on the spot.

"Ms. Beltza is your friend?" the lawyer asked somewhat hesitant.

"Yes..."

"Oh..." the woman muttered, a hint of sadness in her voice, while writing down something, before suddenly completely changing her mood "Sen-sational! With this you might be protected by the Good Samaritan law!

Jumping back up from her chair and grabbing her back bag in one fluid motion, Ms. Polendina seemed to be finished with them "As far as I know, the trial will be tomorrow morning. And don't worry you two will be a-okay!"

"And what about us? Can we go home?" Nora asked as her fellow redhead knocked on the door to be let out "Ms. Polendina? Penny?"

With a sigh her head slumped back down as the door closed behind their lawyer. Not speaking a word, Ren simply reached over to her with his free hand and gently rubbed her shoulder.

"Is it just me or is she really strange?"

"No... You're right Nora..."

* * *

Returning to their usual work after a day "off" felt refreshing to Pyrrha. She hoped that today was a quiet one without much happening. No robberies, no shootouts and most definitely no Arc family reunions.

"Good morning!" she greeted her partner cheerful as she came into the locker room to change in her uniform.

"Morning..." Jaune muttered in reply, before putting on his undershirt, letting out a quiet groan of pain.

Bandages were still wrapped around his chest, but he apparently changed them with fresh ones, as they were still stark white. Pyrrha watched her partner for a few moments, before he apparently noticed and glanced back at her.

With a bright blush, the redhead quickly turned around to get changed as well. She wasn't quite sure _why_ she tended to watch her partner change, while he doesn't notice. At least that was what she tried to tell herself. Pyrrha was quiet sure that Jaune had someone in his life, but she never asked him herself.

As they were finished, Jaune quietly left the locker room, with his partner following close behind.

"Oh, Jauney Boy. What _happened_ to you?" Cardin Winchester asked amused as he saw Jaune's face, while he got coffee "Did your wife beat you up?"

"I'm not married, Cardin..." was the blond's only reply, while filling two cups with coffee.

"Oh right, you are one of these _temperamental_ freaks, aren't you?"

Letting out a sigh before reaching for milk and pouring it into one of the two mugs "Listen Cardin, I'm not in the mood for this crap today..."

"So, your boyfriend _did_ beat you up!" the taller man asked with a triumphant smile on his lips.

"You don't have anything better to do Cardin?" Pyrrha asked annoyed "Jaune stepped up for a homeless man while out of uniform against a couple of rowdies and got in a fight. He cares about the people around him, something you should consider, too!"

Muttering something under his breath, the police officer turned around and quickly walked away, but not before bumping into Jaune, causing him to spill hot coffee over his hand "Ah! Damn it..."

"You alright?" the redhead asked almost immediately.

"Yeah, I'm all right..." Jaune replied, teeth gritted in pain, before holding out one of the mugs to her "Here."

"Thanks..."

"I expect both of you in my office in one minute..." a familiar voice told them as the captain of the police force walked past them to fill her mug, not even looking at them.

"Uhm, yes Ma'am!" the partners said in unison, already expecting the worst.

"So... Am I right to assume _this_ " the captain pointed at Jaune's beat up face "Was the reason you called in sick?"

"I, uhm... Yes, ma'am." Jaune replied hesitant scratching the back of his head.

"And what about you, Nikos? I don't see any bruises on you? What happened to you? Besides the _"coincidence"_ that you got "sick" at the same time, obviously."

"We were investigating Blake Belladonna and tried to find out some more about the Rose Petal thieves." Jaune interrupted Pyrrha immediately.

"You two... Went off the book?" the captain questioned utterly surprised "Are you two insane?"

"We're sorry ma'am." the redhead told the white haired woman as calm as possible "But with Ms. Belladonna released from our custody without any questioning, we had to find information ourselves."

"And this involved getting beaten up?"

Without saying a word, Pyrrha gently put down the still sealed letter they got from Jaune's father.

"What is this?" the ice queen asked puzzled as she took the envelope and inspected it.

"We found some connections between the Red Petal thieves and the White Rose Gang. And we suspect this letter might lead us to them." the female police officer explained.

"Where did you get this from?"

"Well..." Jaune said, awkwardly rubbing his hands while trying to find a good explanation "My father is friends with a man we suspect is one of the still unknown former members of the White Rose Gang, Qrow Branwen... And this is the last letter he got from him.

"Qrow is the brother of one of the two members that were caught, Raven Branwen, so it isn't too farfetched to suspect him as a member." Pyrrha tried to explain as she noticed how the captain's expression dropped on the mention of the name Qrow.

"Qrow Branwen is a dangerous person. And you two would do best if you stayed out of his way." the ice queen told them through gritted teeth, the sound of her voice justifying her nickname once again.

"Wait, you know of Branwen?" Jaune ask surprised as he heard the warning.

"Yes... I know him." the captain told them with a sigh "He ran a crime syndicate here in Vale, before leaving over two years ago. Dismantling his syndicate is what brought me this position. He is a dangerous man and should you cross his path, he would probably not hesitate to eliminate you in an instant."

"Depending what is in the letter, we might _have_ to cross paths with him, though..." Pyrrha pointed out, looking at the sealed envelope that was still in the white haired woman's hands.

Glancing at the duo, the captain of the police carefully opened the black wax seal and pulled out a letter.

" _Invitation to the grand opening of the_ _Ardaigh_ _Grand Casino_." the captain began to read out loud " _We would like to invite you to the opening_ _gala_ _event,_ _ushering_ _in a new age of entertainment! With the return of our founder,_ **_Qrow_** **_Branwen_** , _to Vale, we also invite everybody to the exclusive display of the_ _Vytal_ _Diamond,_ _generously_ _lend_ _from the Vale Royal Museum._ _Looking forward to your_ _attendance, the Black Rose foundation._ "

After looking back at the two, she immediately shook her head "There is no way in hell I would allow this! Besides, there is nothing connecting Branwen to the case, anyway!"

"Actually there is!" Jaune exclaimed, taking the two women by surprise "If the Rose Petal thieves and the White Rose Gang really are connected, then it would make sense that they would try to succeed where the other has failed."

The captain raised an eyebrow "You mean the Vytal Diamond?"

"Yes. If Branwen really was a member of the White Rose Gang and there really is a connection between them and the Rose Petal thieves, then I wouldn't be surprised if all of this is to finally steal it!"

"This... This is a ridiculous idea! Why would that make any sense?" the captain asked, utterly confused by the blond's conclusion.

"I doesn't..." Pyrrha told her with a shrug "But please let us go there, simply for the off chance that Jaune's theory is true. We might even be able to catch them with this!"

Looking back and forth between the two officers and the invitation, the ice queen let out a sigh, before holding the piece of paper out again "Fine! The event is in one week, so you have time to prepare. But remember: I don't approve of it. And if it turns sour, I most certainly can't help you!"

"Thanks, ma'am!" both the blond and the redhead exclaimed with a smile, before saluting her and leaving her office with the invitation again.

"I swear if you get yourselves killed..." she muttered as she opened a drawer in her desk to pull out an envelope. Sealed with black wax.

* * *

"Rise for the honorable Judge Peach." the court assistant announced as the door to the courtroom opened and the judge came in.

"I'm court ready. I'm court ready!" Penny quietly whispered to herself, nervously rubbing her hands as they sat down again.

"Reeeen, she is _whispering_ to herself!" Nora told Ren quietly, so their defender wouldn't hear her.

"I noticed..." the black haired man replied with a sigh "Just... It's going to be fine."

"Case #2411, the Kingdom of Vale v Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie. Are defense and prosecution ready?" the judge asked, looking at both sides of the courtroom.

"Ready, your honor." the prosecutor said with a nod.

"I am court ready!" Penny still whispered to herself, before noticing that the judge asked a question "Oh. Ready, your honor!"

Usually Ren was the pessimistic one in their relationship, but a night in jail apparently had a big impact on Nora "That's it. We're going to prison..."

"... Declare the accused: Not guilty." with a loud noise, the judge's hammer came down on its wooden counterpart.

In a surprising turn of events, the seemingly awkward and incompetent lawyer had opened up quickly during the trial and managed to receive a verdict within an hour.

The prosecutor quickly packed up his things and stormed out of the courtroom, apparently aggravated by the fact that he lost to someone on her first case.

As soon as the judge had announced the verdict, Penny and her two defendants let out a sigh in unison.

Collecting her thoughts for a moment, the lawyer then turned to her clients, a big smile on her face "This was fun!"

"Fun?" Ren questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"That. Was. Incredible!" Nora exclaimed exited with a high pitched voice.

"Well, It was pretty amazing." the black haired male agreed with a nod "I really didn't expect you to be so... Well, gifted in court."

"Thank you!" the lawyer said with a bright smile.

"And now, we need to go and celebrate!" the shorter redhead exclaimed exited.

The smile on Penny's face quickly turned to doubt "Oh... I don't think my partner would-"

"Consider it our payment!" Nora quickly told her, grabbing her by the hand and yanking her along.

"Oh-Okay..."

"Why do I think this is going to end badly?" Ren muttered to himself, before everything turned into a haze as he followed the two women.


End file.
